Dr. Maria Theresa Bad-ang, chairperson of the Southern Philippines Medical Center renal transplant section of nephrology. She is concurrent head of the Department of Health organ procurement organization for Zone 4A. (PNA file photo)
DAVAO CITY – The state-run Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) has secured a PHP1 million research funding grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), aimed at boosting kidney transplant research in Mindanao.
In a statement Friday, DOST's Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) said the grant is for the conduct of data collection, blood sampling and processing, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) extraction and sequencing, and statistical analysis.
“This is part of DOST’s program to harness the country's scientific and technological capabilities by providing financial grants to science and technology programs/projects to spur sustainable economic growth for the country,” PCHRD said.
The study also seeks to determine through a blood test how well the patient's kidneys are working, and the amount of medical expense spent by kidney transplant recipients in Mindanao based on their metabolic rates.
“The results of this project will serve as a baseline for future studies that would help patients prepare for the tedious process of healing after kidney transplant,” the agency said.
Dr. Maria Theresa Bad-ang, the project leader and chairperson of the SPMC renal transplant section of nephrology, said kidney transplant is one of the most common surgeries for people with chronic kidney disease.
To prevent the body's organ rejection, the kidney recipients are maintained on drugs.
The research will correlate the patient's genes to the dose of the drug intake to ensure safer and more accurate monitoring of the drug usage.
Bad-ang, also concurrent head of the Department of Health (DOH) organ procurement organization for Zone 4A, urged the public to sign-up for organ donation as it remains the best solution to address the growing kidney problem in the country.
“Without a donor, there will be no transplant. And it’s illegal to buy or sell an organ,” she said in an interview Friday.
DOH data showed that 90,000 Filipinos are on dialysis treatment, with Davao Region ranking third nationwide for having 2,400 patients on the list.
Likewise, the same data showed a 12 percent to 15 percent rise in the number of patients undergoing dialysis yearly.
To date, only 20 patients have received kidney transplants out of the 2,400 patients in the region due to a lack of donors. (PNA)
