About Us

The Hospital on Wheels (HOW) was launched by the Rotary Club of San Francisco del Monte (RC SFDM, RI Distr. 3780) on September 17, 2007, at the Quezon City Hall compound. It was the brainchild of Dr. Juan “Jim” Sanchez Jr., who had been motivated to develop HOW by his experience treating indigent patients. Many of his patients had difficulty accessing adequate healthcare due to geographic or economic restrictions. This led to the development of a community of volunteers, all from different fields, with the primary goal of promoting overall health and providing necessary healthcare to underserved communities across the Philippines.

In collaboration with RC SFDM, RI 3780, which he is a member of, Dr. Jim Sanchez started HOW as the Mobile Surgical Unit (MSU). The MSU was built from a repurposed container van and was envisioned as a "mini-operating room" where surgical procedures could be done under nerve blocks or local anesthesia to significantly offset the usual costs of such procedures in clinics or hospitals. Surgical missions would be conducted 2-4 times a month with the MSU in underserved communities, primarily the provinces of Luzon and Metro Manila.

The knowledge and experience from the MSU paved the way for the development of the current HOW bus. With the help of many Fil-American Civic Organizations and philanthropists, the HOW bus was built at a Volvo assembly plant in Subic and Alabang in the middle of 2017. It became fully operational by January 2018 and became known as the Hospital On Wheels.

The new Volvo Euro 5 airconditioned bus is well-equipped as an operating room with three operating tables, enabling it to accommodate three surgeries simultaneously. It had its first surgical mission along the ABS-CBN Road, and the event was televised on Philippine national television.