"Who is your doctor?" How to find a menopause-literate OB in the Philippines

Read any Philippine thread where a woman says HRT gave her life back, and the first reply is almost always the same: "How did you get HRT? Who is your doctor?" (r/AskPinay).

That question exists because many women have been turned away. Filipinas on Reddit report OBs who "do not prescribe", who call symptoms stress, or who are "old-school" about hormones. One wrote that outside NCR, OBs are often not as knowledgeable about menopause. None of that means you did something wrong. It means you need a doctor who keeps up with current guidance, and it is fine to look for one.

What "menopause-literate" means in practice: the doctor knows that The Menopause Society 2022 position statement says that for most healthy women under 60, or within 10 years of menopause, the benefits of hormone therapy outweigh the risks. They can talk through hormone and non-hormonal options, and they will not dismiss symptoms like brain fog, joint pain or 3 am waking.

Philippine Society of Climacteric Medicine (PSCM). The national society of doctors with a special interest in menopause. Its patient hub, LAYAG, has menopause FAQs and a "Find a Menopause Clinic" page, but when we checked, the clinic list did not load (pscminc.org/web/layag). Public listings give PSCM's address as the ground floor of the POGS Building, 56 Malakas St., Diliman, Quezon City, and its email as pscm2012@gmail.com (IMS). You can write to ask for members near you. These listings are not recent, so check pscminc.org first.

The Medical City, Institute for Women's Health (Menopause). Lists menopause consultant services, symptom management, HRT and non-hormonal medicines. Tel. (632) 8-988-1000 or 8-988-7000, loc. 6139, 6339, 6336 (The Medical City).

St. Luke's Medical Center. Has a hormone replacement therapy page under OB-GYN, mostly a booking page. BGC: +63-2-8789-7700 loc. 7755. Quezon City: +63-2-8723-0101 loc. 5450 (St. Luke's).

Makati Medical Center, Center for Osteoporosis and Bone Health. For bone density scans and bone care, 3F Tower 2, +632 8888 8999 loc. 3334 (Makati Med).

Philippine General Hospital (PGH), UP Manila Department of OB-GYN. Its faculty ran the October 2025 "Navigating Menopause" symposium and spoke in favour of starting HRT when symptoms appear (UP Manila). A government hospital clinic costs less but usually means a longer wait.

Consult fees range from ₱300 to ₱600 at government hospitals to ₱600 to ₱2,000 at private hospitals. Prices checked October 2026. See costs for the full picture.

If there is no menopause-literate OB near you, or you want a first conversation without taking a day off, a teleconsult is a practical start. A specialist teleconsult is about ₱699 per 15 min (Doctor Anywhere, Medifi).

• Doctor Anywhere: video consults with specialists.
• NowServing: book clinic appointments and teleconsults with OB-GYNs.
• Hati Health: consults plus lab test bookings.

A teleconsult works well for talking through symptoms, reviewing your diary and getting a plan. Your doctor may still want an in-person exam, a pelvic exam or tests before prescribing. If you have bleeding after menopause or a breast lump, book an in-person visit.

Prices checked October 2026.

Clinic secretaries field these questions every day. Ask them plainly:

1. "Does the doctor see patients for menopause or perimenopause symptoms?"
2. "Does the doctor discuss hormone therapy (HRT) as well as non-hormonal options?"
3. "How long is a consult, and how much is the professional fee?"
4. "Can I do a teleconsult first?"
5. "Should I bring anything, like a symptom diary or old lab results?"

If the answer to question 2 is a flat "no, the doctor doesn't do HRT", that is useful to know before you pay. You are allowed to keep looking.

• They ask about your symptoms in detail, including sleep, mood, joints, sex and bladder.
• They explain why they do or do not order tests. Over 45 with typical symptoms, blood tests are usually not needed (NICE NG23 and QS143).
• They talk about benefits and risks with real numbers, not just "nakaka-cancer yan".
• They offer options: hormone therapy, non-hormonal medicines, vaginal estrogen, CBT, lifestyle.
• They plan a follow-up to see how you are doing.

A doctor who says no to HRT is not automatically wrong. Some women have real reasons not to use it, such as a history of breast cancer or blood clots. The difference is that a good doctor explains the reason and offers another path.

Below the guide you will see a list of doctors and clinics shared publicly by Filipinas or listed on public pages. Each entry is labelled Community-recommended and shows where the recommendation came from and when. We have not checked every doctor's practice, and a listing is not an endorsement.

If you are a doctor and want a listing corrected or removed, use the removal-request link on the entry. If you want to suggest a doctor who helped you, use the suggestion link. Please do not include any health details about yourself.

Before your visit, prepare with our guide on how to talk to your doctor and print the questions for your OB.