PGH opens charity ward for bone marrow transplants

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) has opened a charity ward for patients in need of bone marrow transplant, with three beds dedicated to free services that typically cost millions of pesos.

The new bone marrow transplant unit, the first in the country with a charity ward, was inaugurated on Friday.

The facility is expected to begin providing services to patients within the year.

According to Dr. Tricia Alcasabas, head of the pediatric hematology-oncology section at PGH, the new unit has four beds—three will be for charity, where patients won’t have to pay any out-of-pocket expenses, and one will remain private “for equity.”

“But the private that you see here are middle class or low-middle class,” Alcasabas told the Inquirer, noting that the private ward will still have more affordable services compared to other hospitals.

Dr. Teresita Dumagay, project lead of the bone marrow transplant unit, noted how difficult it was to get a bone marrow transplant in the country.

She said there are only around six centers that have the capacity to conduct the operation, all of which are private facilities that are located in Metro Manila.

According to Dumagay, who is an adult hematologist, bone marrow transplant typically serves as treatment of certain cancers and tumors, including leukemia, lymphomas, multiple myeloma, neuroblastoma and neurosarcoma.

A treatment usually costs around P2 million to P5 million “for an uncomplicated case.”

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Serious challenge

“There are two types of transplant. You can get the healthy source from yourself or you can get the healthy source from someone else,” she explained.

“For us to do that, you need to undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy to remove the old, non-working cells, and then you put in the new working cells,” the doctor said.

“When you receive chemotherapy radiation, you might have infections. You might need transfusions. So those will add on to the cost,” Dumagay said.

“If you’re an uncomplicated case, you’re lucky if you get P2 million,” she described the situation for patients.

With the new charity ward, Alcasabas said patients won’t have to pay for the operation, medicines, as well as doctor’s professional fees.

However, she noted that challenges still remain with regards to the donors for the transplant.

Dumagay emphasized that for donors of bone marrow transplant, the experience is “just like you’re donating blood,” noting that the process is similar to drawing therapeutic plasma from donors.

“For donors, we usually hook them up to a machine. The machine sorts out your blood. It will get the needed blood, and then the rest of the blood is returned to you,” she said.

Dumagay said the facility is expected to begin transplant services within this year, with 25 patients already lined up for the procedure.

Alcasabas also urged the public to support the new unit by donating blood at the PGH Blood Donation Center, which is open between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. /mcm /apl

—With a report by intern Marc Andre Esguerra