Perpetual Help offers new lease on life

MANILA, Philippines – Fifty-five-year-old Ramonito Bautista Sr., of Bacoor, Cavite, works as a foreman for a Las Piñas company. Though hardworking, he is still unable to make ends meet, and that’s when he turned to drinking.

But vice comes with a price. Diagnosed at the University of Perpetual Help DALTA Medical Center (UPHDMC) in 2008 with chronic kidney disease (CKD) that has worsened to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) at which kidney function is less than 10 percent of normal to function at a level needed for daily life, he was told to undergo thrice-a-week hemodialysis sessions.

Of course, being poor prevented him from following the doctor’s orders.

Fortunately for him, the UPHDMC served as Bautista’s angel by providing him a new lease on life through kidney transplantation at its new Kidney Transplant Unit (KTU). 

And he also has a lot to be thankful for: the staff, the outstanding doctors of UPHDMC and more importantly, the generosity and support of Dr. Antonio Tamayo, board chairman, chief executive officer and founder of the DALTA Group of Companies (DGC), and his family.

Kidney transplantation is the best treatment option for ESRD, where a patient (recipient) receives a new kidney to take over the work of cleaning his/her blood to extend the quality of life of ESRD patients.

The kidney can come from either a deceased or a living donor, but the KTU organ donation program dictates that it must be unconditional. Informed consent to donate is the cornerstone of all medical interventions.

In 2011, the UPHDMC was granted the Certificate of Accreditation as a kidney transplant facility by the Department of Health and one of its thrusts is to “provide the best possible care to every kidney transplant patient and (his or her family)” and “implement more efficient care, interactive, appropriate and relevant patient and family education programs.”

“I talked to my 22-year-old son that I would undergo a kidney transplant and if he was willing to be my donor. The dialysis is forever but the transplant is a new life,” Bautista said.

“My donor was my third child, Marson Voz, who had the courage to give life to his father, but it still took me five months to decide to have the transplant,” he said.

Given assurance of the KTU’s competence in kidney transplantation, Bautista underwent the operation last June 21.

The operation was a resounding success, thanks to the capable hands of the transplant team composed of transplant vascular surgeon Dr. Renato Reyes, who had training in Osaka and Munich; Dr. Jose Benito Abraham, who holds the distinction of being the “first and only” Filipino urologist to undergo dual “back-to-back surgical fellowships in minimally invasive urological surgery and organ transplantation;” Dr. Emmanuel Lenon, a urologist who did the nephrectomy of the donor; Drs. Carmelita Lunas, Emmanuel Gomez and Erlinda Reyes, the designated anaesthesiologists; and Dr. Arlene Marcelo, the main attending physician and nephrologist.

“We are very happy that the KTU was able to successfully perform its first kidney transplant procedure. On the heels of its success, we hope to be able to undertake more transplant procedures at the KTU to meet our objective of bringing every aspect of efficient, effective and quality health care more accessible to many Filipinos,” Tamayo said.

Among the services available to ESRD patients aside from transplantation are nephrectomies (using laparoscopic technology involving micro-incisions and quicker surgical recovery), and deceased organ donorship (with the UPHDMC as the referring hospital).

In line with this, the UPHDMC has established OPTions as its advocacy in its organ donation program. It adheres to the guidelines of the Philippine Organ Donation Program (PODP) to ensure that all patients in the waiting list have a fair chance at receiving the organ they need regardless of age, gender, lifestyle or social status and location in the Philippines.

Transplant coordinators are on-standby 24/7 to receive and respond to referrals.

The UPHDMC Kidney Transplant Unit is located at Room 329 of the main building’s third floor extension. For inquiries, call (02) 874-8515 local 239, or visit the UPHDMC-KTU to know more about its services.

The University of Perpetual Help Dalta Medical Center is located along Alabang-Zapote Road in Las Piñas City. For other inquiries, log on to www.uphmc.com.ph, call 874-8515 (trunkline) or 873-7210 (fax), or e-mail at [email protected]. For medical emergencies, call the UPHDMC hotline at 873-7210.