Meet Dr. Mikko Manalastas: The MacGyver of Medicine

Just a week after passing his board exams and two days after getting his license number, Miguel “Mikko” F. Manalastas, MD-MBA, was faced with the toughest question no exam could ever ask – how does one deliver a baby at the backseat of a car?

With only a bath towel from Mikko’s gym bag, a first aid kit from the condo lobby, a hair clip from the laboring mom, Baby Gabriella Ann became Mikko’s first patient as a licensed physician.

The story about Mikko, the now-dubbed “DocGyver” or “MacGyver of Medicine,” a graduate of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH), and baby Gabriella Ann first came out online last October 3.   

(ASMPH offers a double degree program leading to the degrees of Doctor of Medicine and Master in Business Administration, hence the MD-MBA after his name.)

“I didn’t expect that the news will be quick to catch the story because soon enough I found myself in the middle of web, print and TV interviews, asking me what happened. It escalated quickly and I was honestly overwhelmed with everything but nevertheless, I’m just glad that my story brought good news to people and hopefully, it has inspired them to do the same when faced with a similar situation,” says the 27-year-old Mikko.

The Medical History

Mikko recalls that being a doctor has been a dream of his since he was six years old. More accurately, it started as his grandparents’ dream and one he embraced little by little as he was growing up. He remembers that he always had a knack for taking toy cars and robots apart, and later on reassembling them just to see how the pieces fit and work together - the makings of a doctor-to be.

It was in college that the dream started turning into a vocation for Mikko. Being a doctor was no longer just studying how each part functions but a calling he needed to respond to. He wanted to embody what it was really like to be a “man for and with others” always willing to help and serve others while expecting nothing in return.

Medical school was not any different. If anything, it only gave Mikko even more drive to work harder. He did clinical rotations as a clerk in ASMPH’s partner hospital, The Medical City (TMC), shadowing residents and consultants, and familiarizing himself with various medical cases and patients. He attended to patients as an intern, performing numerous physical examinations and IV insertions, ordering diagnostics and weighing treatment options that would best suit his patients.

“Students from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health are fortunate to be able to train and rotate in a world-class tertiary hospital such as The Medical City. The first three years of medical school were spent cooped up inside the classroom, as I tried my best to equip myself with the necessary skills and knowledge required in the hospital. It was during this time that a lot of preparation was done through reading countless books, answering tests and exams and attending small group discussions,” relates Mikko.

The Partnership

His journey to becoming Dr. Manalastas was not purely medical though. Mikko recognizes that the years he has spent at the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), the ASMPH, and TMC have formed him into becoming a “doctor of the future, a doctor who is not just an outstanding clinician, but a social catalyst and dynamic manager.”

The family who has served as his rock and foundation, the friends who taught him brotherhood, the professors who shared their experiences, and the residents and consultants who mentored and trusted him, all took part in shaping the nervous yet brave Dr. Manalastas on that fated Saturday morning.

But, the most important partnership he has formed all these years was with his patients. Every patient Mikko met along the way gave face and meaning to all the long years of studying and training.

Although the procedure was already second nature for him and his body already knew how to deliver Baby Gabriella Ann, Mikko admits that he could not take all the credit. In that situation (and in every encounter he has had), the patient is just as amazing and brave as any doctor. The brevity and confidence in every doctor rely on the trust and partnership with each patient. They were no longer mere statistics, but true embodiments of unconditional service.

The Doctor of the Future

Without really expecting but a chill Saturday morning to the gym, Mikko’s life was changed indefinitely. He is now set to become the godfather of a strong and healthy baby girl, and has gained even deeper ties with his patients. 

For him, it was more than a coincidence, but a confirmation that being a doctor is indeed his vocation. The baptism of fire he overcame was just the beginning of a life-long commitment in giving all his effort, expertise and time to each patient in need of help.

“Especially in these times, I hope we can all come together ‘to give and not to count the cost.’ Whether you are a doctor or not, we are all capable of helping out – and it simply begins with the willingness to serve,” he adds.

With his keen attention to detail and steady hands, Mikko will no longer just tinker and study toy cars and robots. He plans to join the residency program for Surgery and looks forward to growing into a surgeon interested in the fields of Plastic Surgery or Minimally Invasive Surgery.

While Mikko adopted the nickname “MacGyver” for being agile and resourceful, the mispronounced “Mac-giver” (as his friends would say) might just be a more apt nickname for a doctor promising to give his all and dedicating himself to being the doctor his grandparents always knew he could be. (end)