VSMMC conducts first heart bypass in the Visayas

CEBU, Philippines - The first heart bypass operation in a government hospital within Visayas was recently done at the 101-year-old Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

In a press briefing yesterday organized by the hospital management in time for the celebration of Medicine Week every third week of September, chief of hospital Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr. said the three pilot cases will be used in seeking approval of the accreditation for PhilHealth Z Package.

This government health insurance package aims to assist PhilHealth member patients who could not afford to seek expensive medical intervention for terminal diseases such as breast and cervical cancer, renal failure, and cardiovascular diseases.

Should PhilHealth approve the application of VSMMC in offering Z Package on bypass, patients will no longer need to go to Manila for their operation.

A qualified member will pay a cost of around P800,000 to P1.2 million, which Aquino described to be lower than what private hospitals charge.

PhilHealth Z Package shoulders P550,000 for qualified heart bypass member patient.

VSMMC intends to formalize its application before PhilHealth come November.

While accreditation is underway, patients may still undergo the same procedure as regular patients and Aquino assured the cost would be much cheaper than having it in a private hospital.

Adult cardiology specialist Doctor Jun Maximo Lasco was tapped to particularly handle this pilot procedure being a trained cardiologist from the Philippine Heart Center.

“We were basically just toying with the idea to start bypass in VSMMC. This is the first in Sotto. Based on my experience at the Philippine Heart Center, patients mostly are from Manila and Luzon. You hardly see someone from Visayas and Mindanao. Distance is factor. So it’s a good idea to have our own hospital do a bypass,” Lasco told reporters.

VSMMC shouldered the surgery expenses for the first three cases just to show that the hospital is capable to successfully handle a bypass surgery.

Lasco said they carefully screened low risk coronary artery disease patients who will benefit from the sponsored life-saving procedure.

The patients who qualified for the pilot procedure were three adult males aged 52, 62 and 48.

Two of them are from Cebu while the third is from Leyte.

The first bypass took place September 17 and the succeeding procedures were done a few days apart.

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) procedure is done to patients whose artery blockage is over 70 percent and need mechanical opening of blood vessel, Lasco explained.  A team of 10 medical personnel – composed of two to three surgeons, two to three nurses, an anesthesiologist, and cardiologists – is needed to conduct bypass.

A heart bypass usually lasts from four to six hours and the patient, without post operative complications, will be discharged nine days from the procedure. — Jessa J. Agua/NSA (FREEMAN)