RP's first liver center a pipe dream

Sen. Pia Cayetano lamented yesterday that the lack of government support has sidelined a multi-sectoral effort to put up the country’s first public liver center to save millions of Filipinos suffering from various forms of liver ailment.

“It’s disheartening to know that the project hasn’t taken off while millions of Filipinos are afflicted with hepatitis B, cirrhosis and liver cancer,” Cayetano said.

Since 2005, the senator, liver research pioneer Dr. Ernesto Domingo and the Gastroenterology Section of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) have spearheaded efforts to put up a liver clinic and laboratory facility which would serve the poor at the country’s premier tertiary hospital.

The facility was envisioned to become the core of a fully equipped national liver center at the PGH compound in Manila. But the lack of funds has prevented the project from taking off.

Cayetano cited as another major setback the number of liver surgeons who have decided to leave the country for greener pastures abroad.

“Some of our liver surgeons who got their training abroad came back to the country in the hope of practicing their specialty here. But due to the lack of facilities like a liver center, they have decided to bring their skills elsewhere,” she said.

“We can’t blame these doctors for leaving because many of them are actually willing to stay and serve. It is government’s responsibility to provide the venue to allow them to practice. In my trips to public hospitals, especially in the provinces, I’ve observed how even tertiary medical facilities lack basic equipment.”

Cayetano also lamented that all of her congressional allocations under the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) for the project have been withheld by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) since 2005.

“The liver center would have provided services, including assistance, laboratory testing, vaccination and medicine. It was also envisioned to serve as a research and training center for doctors,” she said.

Citing estimates from the Hepatology Society of the Philippines, Cayetano said the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B among Filipinos has doubled, from eight percent of the population 10 years ago to 16 percent of the population today.

Statistics from the Philippine Cancer Society rank liver cancer as the third most common form of cancer among men and sixth among women.

Around one in 10 Filipinos is an active carrier of the hepa B virus and could be unwittingly infecting others.

The establishment of a liver center is supported by various private institutions, including the Compañero Rene Cayetano Foundation, named after Sen. Pia’s father, the late Sen. Rene Cayetano who suffered from chronic hepatitis B before succumbing to intra-abdominal cancer in 2003.

After getting elected to the Senate in 2004, the younger Cayetano held dialogues with stakeholders in the public health system on how to strengthen government services for the prevention and cure of liver-related ailments.

One positive result of the dialogues is the inclusion of mandatory hepa B vaccination for all newborn infants within 24 hours from birth under the national immunization program of the Department of Health.