Gov't commits to improving PHL pediatric liver transplant services

The government has started looking for short-term and long-term strategies that would improve pediatric liver transplant services in the country, according to a Friday press release from the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

"One of the short-term solutions is to build a consortium between the Office of the President (OP), Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) and The Medical City (TMC), which will pool together government as well as private funds. The money will then be transferred to TMC through PCMC," the press release said.

Until the NKTI can solely perform liver transplants in children, the PCMC and TMC would partner up to perform the pediatric liver transplants.

The long-term solution involves sending a team of 12 NKTI specialists to undergo training in Taiwan. The government also planned to acquire more equipment for NKTI facilities.

Senator Bong Go, who authored the Malasakit Center Act, said that "improving the capacity of the NKTI will lessen the burden of the families of those who are in urgent need of transplantation."

On Wednesday, President Rodrigo Duterte advised the parents of a two-year-old patient who needed a liver transplant to allow the procedure to be done in the country.

The child was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease where the bile ducts that connect to the liver are blocked and scarred.

The parents of the child initially wanted the liver transplant to be done in India, where the procedure would be cheaper.

"Subukan natin dito. Ako naniniwala ako. Hindi ako nambabarat—may pera at tutulong ako,” Duterte said to the child's parents.

According to the release, the Chief Executive also asked the parents to trust in the expertise of the doctors at the National Kidney Training Institute (NKTI) as he noted that "they were equally capable of performing the transplant."

One of the reasons why Duterte wanted the transplant to be done in the country was because the child would receive better pre and post-operative care in the Philippines.

He added that government agencies would be able to provide support. — Angelica Y. Yang/DVM, GMA News