Over 20 Makabayang Samahang Pangkalusugan-National Capital Region (MSP-NCR) chapter members gathered in an undisclosed place on December 6 to launch their regional assembly. Health workers from hospitals, nurses, doctors, medical technologists, dentists, and students of medicine and nursing attended the event.

The MSP is the health sector’s revolutionary organization allied with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). The group was founded on December 6, 1978. It held its first national conference and created a program on December 30, 1978.

The MSP-NCR reaffirmed its commitment to the people’s democratic revolution amid the Filipino people’s extreme suffering. It emphasized the great importance of uniting the health sector’s strength with the people’s struggle to advance the revolution.

The assembly also formed a five-point resolution to strengthen its struggle. The special issue of the newspaper Ang Rebolusyonaryong Lunas listed the following resolutions:

1. Reach and organize the widest number of health sector members for the revolution.
2. Dedicate skills and knowledge to the revolution, join the people’s war, and enlist in the New People’s Army.
3. Actively join the democratic struggle of the sector and the people, and continuously expose, isolate, and eventually overthrow the US-Marcos-Duterte regime.
4. Launch vigorous propaganda and education and mobilize around the issues and concerns faced by the sector and the entire people.
5. Advance solidarity and support for peoples struggling and waging revolutions in other countries.

According to the MSP-NCR, they purposely scheduled the assembly in time of the MSP anniversary. It said preparations for the assembly took almost a year. It implemented measures including forming a committee for preparation and organization.

The requirements they set included preparing chapters or pre-formations of chapters in the sub-sectors of the health sector. In August, the MSP formed a chapter among the ranks of health students. Other sub-sectors also held preparatory meetings.

MSP members also reviewed and studied the basic documents of their organization. They ensured the security of the assembly venue and organized the safe arrival of attendees.

According to the chapter, the gathering was an important occasion for consolidating the MSP membership. It provided an opportunity for members to share revolutionary experiences in organizing and providing MSP’s services that responded to the call for integration in the countryside. It added that this was also a significant step in preparing for the further consolidation of the MSP on a national level.

Several attendees of the assembly, especially new MSP members, expressed that their morale rose upon seeing fellow revolutionaries in the sector. A health student also said he was delighted to see MSP members from other professions, particularly doctors and nurses.