MANILA, Philippines — The National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) is preparing other government hospitals to become renal centers to help more Filipinos suffering from kidney disease, NKTI chief transplant coordinator Peter Paul Plegaria said on Saturday.
Plegaria also said that some regions in the country still have not established medical facilities capable of doing kidney transplants.
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“Mayroon pa rin po kasi tayong mga regional centers [in some] regions po sa Philippines na wala pa pong transplant centers. So like in Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa, Zamboanga Peninsula, we have the Soccsksargen, Caraga and we have MOH-BARMM (Ministry of Health in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao). So wala pang mga transplant centers,” Plegaria said during a news forum in Quezon City.
(We still have regional centers in the Philippines that do not have transplant centers yet. Like in Cagayan Valley, MIMAROPA, Zamboanga Peninsula, Soccsksargen, Caraga, and MOH-BARMM [Ministry of Health in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao], there are still no transplant centers.)
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“So the NKTI po is capacitating other DOH [Department of Health] hospitals po to be a renal center din po so that maging transplant center din po sila and makapag-cater na rin po sila ng transplant,” he added.
(The NKTI is also capacitating other DOH hospitals to become renal centers so that they can also become transplant centers and provide transplant services.)
The Philippines currently has 38 transplant centers, 11 of which are government-owned and 27 are privately owned.
Plegaria also highlighted that chronic kidney disease is one of the top causes of death in the country, noting that about 2.3 million Filipinos are suffering from the condition.
The NKTI also estimated that one Filipino develops chronic kidney failure every hour, which translates to about 120 Filipinos per million population every year, he added.