Leading liver expert to attend Cebu gab

One of the world’s top liver transplant experts will discuss with Filipino doctors the benefits of medical treatment in Singapore, Asia’s leading medical destination, particularly for liver disease patients who face difficulties in finding cadaveric livers for transplant, during an upcoming convention in Cebu City this month.

At the same time, Dr. Tan Kai Chah will talk about the most recent procedures in the area of Living Donor Liver Transplant (LDLT) during the mid-year convention of the Philippine Society of Gastroenterology to be held at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Lahug, Cebu City on Nov. 24-26.

Tan is currently the consultant surgeon at the Asian Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation (ACLDT) at Gleneagles Hospital, one of the three acute-care tertiary hospitals in Singapore owned by the Parkway Group Healthcare, the largest private healthcare group in Asia.

The Parkway Group owns two other elite hospitals in Singapore – the East Shore and Mount Elizabeth Hospitals.

In the Philippines, the group recently opened the Parkway Healthcare Medical Referral Center at the Medical Plaza Makati where Filipinos with liver ailments and other major medical problems can seek free consultations on medical services and arrangements for possible treatment in Singapore. (For inquiries, call 751-8225/27.)

During his Cebu visit, Tan will hold separate meetings and discussions with leading liver doctors in the Philippines about Gleneagles Hospital’s LDLT Program, regarded as the brightest hope for patients in need of liver transplant in the Asian region.

Tan said that with the rapid advancement of medical technology and the increasing clinical confidence and skills of today’s surgeons, the highly complicated LDLT procedure has produced excellent results.

"With the increasing incidence of liver diseases in the Asian region, including the Philippines, there is a pressing need for liver donors. However, there is a critical shortage of cadaveric donor livers for transplant in the world," Tan said in a recent paper.

"Today, patients with end-stage liver disease have more choices than to wait, sometimes indefinitely, for cadaveric donors. The hope lies in LDLT," he added.

The ACLDT at Gleneagles is the first private medical center in Asia dedicated to the treatment of all types of liver diseases, from pediatric to adult patients.

The center has a Liver Intensive Care Unit to complement its highly successful Liver Transplant Program.