MANILA, Philippines — Medilines, the listed medical equipment provider, has expanded in Davao by providing cancer diagnostic equipment to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).
The new facility is equipped with three advanced cancer diagnostic equipment, which comprises the first complete cancer diagnosis package in Mindanao. The medical equipment comprises the SPECT/CT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computed Tomography), PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography), and the Medical Cyclotron.
SPMC, located in Davao City, is the largest tertiary hospital under the Department of Health and the leading provider of health care and training in Mindanao.
The diagnostic facility is worth approximately P529 million, with the budget coming from the Office of the President thru the Health Facility Enhancement Program of the Department of Health (DOH), Medilines said in a disclosure yesterday.
“These advanced modalities essentially equip the facility with the most useful diagnostic and/or treatment information for many diseases. Nuclear medicine offers the potential to identify disease in its earliest stage, often before symptoms occur or abnormalities can be detected with other diagnostic tests. It enables the physicians to find, characterize and follow the development of the disease over time,” Medilines said.
A SPECT/CT procedure, like a whole-body bone scan, is conducted to yield more precise information compared to invasive procedures like exploratory surgery.
Once a lesion is detected, a PET/CT procedure may provide additional diagnosis on whether the lesion is benign or malignant, without the need for surgical biopsy, the company also said.
Additionally, both systems provide much needed information for radiotherapy planning.
Having both the SPECT/CT and PET/CT enables SPMC to deliver quality patient care that focuses on precision medicine and personalized care.
According to the Philippine Cancer Control Program, cancer is the third leading cause of morbidity and mortality for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the country. Breast cancer remains to be the most common cancer followed by lung, colorectum, liver, and prostate for both male and female.
Aside from cancer therapy machines, Medilines also distributes B. Braun dialysis machines and Siemens Healthineers diagnostic imaging equipment like CT scans and MRI machines.