SMTP Error: Could not connect to SMTP host.

[gwapoako]

<?php
	session_start();

	include_once("../Connection/Connection.php");

	use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
	use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

if(isset($_POST['Approved'])){
		$patient_id = $_POST['ID'];
		

		$sql = "UPDATE tbl_patient SET request_status = 'Approved' WHERE patient_id = '$patient_id'";
		$user = mysqli_query($con, $sql);

		$sqluser = "SELECT `patient_id`,`patient_name`,`patient_email` FROM tbl_patient WHERE patient_id = '$patient_id'";
		$userresult = mysqli_query($con, $sqluser);

	while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($userresult)){
	
		if(!empty($row['patient_email'])){
			 
			require '../PHPMailer-master/src/Exception.php';
			require '../PHPMailer-master/src/PHPMailer.php';
			require '../PHPMailer-master/src/SMTP.php';
			require_once '../PHPMailer-master/src/PHPMailer.php';
			require_once '../PHPMailer-master/src/SMTP.php';
			
			  
			  	
	           
			date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Manila');
			$d=strtotime('today');
			$day=date('Y-m-d h:i:s');
	
	           $subj = 'Donation Approval '.  date("m-d-Y h:i:s a");
			
			$new_body = "TO: ".$row['patient_name']."\n"; 
			$new_body .= "RE: ".$subj."\n\n";
			$new_body .= "Dear ".$row['patient_name'].",\n\n"; 
			$new_body .= "You're Request Form you sent has been Approved. Wait for donor to donate.\n\n";
			
			$new_body .= "Contact us if you have any questions.\n";
			$new_body .= "Municipality of Bacnotan\n"; 
			$new_body .= "trialforsystem39@gmail.com\n"; 
			
			//echo $new_body;
			
			$mail = new PHPMailer(true);
	
			try{
				$mail->isSMTP();
				$mail->SMTPDebug = 2;
				$mail->Host = 'smtp.gmail.com';
				$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
				$mail->Username = 'trialforsystem39@gmail.com';
				$mail->Password = '{REDACTED}';
				$mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS;
				$mail->Port = 587;
				$mail->SetFrom('trialforsystem39@gmail.com', "Online Blood Donation");
				$mail->AddReplyTo('trialforsystem39@gmail.com', "Online Blood Donation");
	            $mail->Subject = $subj;
	            $mail->Body    = $new_body;
				
	           	$mail->addAddress($row['patient_email']);
	             if(!$mail->Send())
	                {
	                echo "Mailer Error: " . $mail->ErrorInfo;
	                }
	                else
	                {
	                
	                }
	        }catch(Exception $e){
				echo $e->getMessage();
			}
		}
	}
	
	
    
}
if(isset($_POST['Declined'])){
		$id = $_POST['ID'];
		$d_id = $_POST['D_ID'];
		$name = $_POST['NAME'];
		$date = $_POST['SEND_DATE'];
		// $approve = $_POST['approve'];
		// $reject = $_POST['reject'];

		$sql = "UPDATE tbl_patient SET request_status = 'Declined' WHERE patient_id = '$id'";
		$user = $con->query($sql) or die ($con->error);

		//header("Location: ../Admin_dashboard_requests.php?declined=success&D_ID=".$d_id."&name=".$name."&send_date=".$date);
		//exit();
		}
?>

[Gandalf]

@gwapoako

require_once '../PHPMailer-master/src/PHPMailer.php';
require_once '../PHPMailer-master/src/SMTP.php';

Why do you have these? You’ve already required them once.

[benanamen]

You might want to think about fixing the SQL Injection Vulnerabilities. NEVER EVER trust user supplied data and never use variables in a query. Use Prepared Statements. And stop creating variables for nothing.

[rpkamp]

For reference, what that means is that instead of

$sql = "UPDATE tbl_patient SET request_status = 'Approved' WHERE patient_id = '$patient_id'";
$user = mysqli_query($con, $sql);

you should be using

$statement = mysqli_prepare($con, 'UPDATE tbl_patient SET request_status = "Approved" WHERE patient_id = ?');
mysqli_stmt_bind_param($statement, 's', $patient_id);

mysqli_stmt_execute($statement);

This is to prevent SQL Injection.

---

As for your question, I don’t know why it can’t connect. Everything seems to be configured correctly.
Is there any more information around the error that is shown?