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BUTUAN CITY: Despite of being ranked as the
No. 10 killer disease in the country causing death to about 7,000
Filipinos every year, personnel in charge at the Department of
Health (DOH) in the Caraga region admitted they do not have database
on kidney ailments and reported kidney for sale activities in the
region.
Dr. Sylvia Samontan, HOP division
chief of the Caraga region’s Center for Health and Development,
claimed during press conference here that they still have to
coordinate with other private and public hospitals for data
gathering about present status of kidney ailments in the region.
Samontan also admitted that they
have no information about reported kidney organs for sale in some
parts of Caraga region now being promoted as one source of
livelihood of the countless jobless residents in the region.
A national television network
came up with a television feature depicting lives of islanders in an
island here in Caraga region, where kidneys are sold to middlemen
from Metro Manila.
Reportedly, kidney organs from
poor residents on the island are sold for as low as P30,000 to as
high as P120,000, depending on the would-be buyers or clients who
badly needed kidney transplant.
But Samontan and other DOH
personnel in the likes of Dr. Raul Atupan, who is NUBSP coordinator,
nurses Delima Legaspi and Epifanio Carbonillan who were present at
the press conference, rebutted that there is no effect on the health
of a person if he or she has only one kidney as a result of the
kidney sale.
Said DOH personnel cited many
instances where a person survived with only one kidney.
“There is nothing illegal in
donating kidneys especially if coursed through the government or for
as long as it is not being commercialized. If it is for sale, then
it is illegal,” they added.
The health department is
launching an organ donation program dubbed “Buhay Mo, Karugtong
Ng Buhay Ko” spearheaded by the National Kidney and Transplant
Institute.
Although, the DOH-Caraga regional
office admitted it has yet to gather comprehensive data about
situation or cases of kidney ailments for more than 1.2 million
population in the Caraga region, the agency admitted kidney ailments
among the populace in this impoverished region are increasing over
the years.
Besides launching organ donation
program, the DOH this month also called on Filipinos to have regular
urinalysis at least once every year.
--PNA
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