Deceased organ donation in Davao hikes

THE list of recipients for organ donation is steadily increasing with the improving organ procurement programs of the Southern Philippines Medical Center-Human Advocate and Retrieval Effort (SPMC-SHARE).

This improvement is due to the implementation of the Spanish method in organ procurement where the number of hopeful recipients has increased from 8 in 2017 to 22 in 2019.

The said model requires medical professionals and hospital staff to undergo training to better cater to the increasing demand for organ transplantation.

Currently, a total of 586 personnel composed of physicians, nurses, and allied health care professionals who have gone through training under the Spanish model of organ procurement by the SPMC since 2018.

As a result of the training, there have been a total of 34 kidney transplants performed from 20182019.

Despite these successes, Doctor Dennis Benjamin Geli, the Donor Management Physician for SPMC-SHARE is still campaigning for the general public to keep an open mind about organ donation.

“At SPMC we have the deceased donor programs and we need everybody’s help to sign up as an organ donor and tell the world: give life – go share,” Geli said.

Jiezllane Tabay of the Mindanao Kidney Patients Foundation is an aspiring transplant patient who has been undergoing hemodialysis for eighteen years. She is looking forward to being able to finally undergo kidney transplantation.

“There are plenty of patients who are waiting for donors to have a better life,” Tabay mentioned.