R1MC set to perform first kidney transplant
THE Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC) will achieve a medical milestone tomorrow, October 1, when its doctors perform the first kidney transplant in the government-owned hospital.
The transplant from a living donor to a recipient will be performed by a team of R1MC doctors trained by the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI).
Dr. Roland Mejia, R1MC chief, said R1MC is the only hospital outside Manila licensed by the Department of Health (DOH) to perform kidney transplant from a live donor to recipient.
“This license from DOH for us to perform kidney transplant is definitely another feather in the cap for R1MC,” said Mejia.
Only NKTI and some big private hospitals in Manila have previously been licensed to perform kidney transplants.
After assessing the capability of R1MC’s team and the hospital facilities, the DOH granted the license to the Dagupan-based hospital.
R1MC was able to acquire state-of-the arts facilities for kidney transplant using money from its own income and boosted by a counterpart fund from the DOH.
R1MC is a tertiary level four hospital with a 300-bed capacity.
There is a pending bill in Congress filed by Fourth District Rep. Gina de Venecia to expand the hospital to a 600-bed capacity.
Mejia said once the expansion program is approved, R1MC intends to position itself as the cancer center of the north.
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