Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi, India completes 21 Filipino Pediatric Liver Transplant Cases within a span of 18 months Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, India emerges as a preferred destination for transplant cases in India.
Manila, Philippines 24 August 2018: Liver transplantation continues to be a challenge for
many Filipino families. The average medical cost of liver-related illness is expensive for the middle and lower class Filipinos. Given the rising cost of medical and health services, and medicine in the country as compared to other Asian countries like lndia, Taiwan, and Thailand, many Filipino families seek medical attention abroad. Many Filipinos have discovered Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals as suitable alternative for liver transplantation. India is perceived as economically viable when it comes to intricate treatments like liver transplants and with Apollo hospitals’ proven expertise, international patients now look towards the country for their treatment.
Dr Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group and Senior Paediatric Gastroenterologist & Hepatologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals stated that Apollo Hospitals is considered as a preferred destination for transplant cases. “The Apollo Transplant Program is the busiest solid organ transplant programs in the world since 2012. In 2017, it not only caters to the domestic needs, but also to patients from 44 other countries.”
India showcases as a destination for successful transplants is manifested in the real life story of Sanjay, the first child in India to have been successfully transplanted at the age of 18 months in 1998. Sanjay is now a medical student leading a normal life. The first successful liver transplant in India was performed at Apollo Hospitals, Delhi in 1998. Since then, more than 3,100 liver transplants have been performed at Apollo of which 298 were performed on children.
Successful Stories for Filipino Babies In the last 18 months, the hospital has undertaken 21 paediatric liver transplant cases from Philippines. Baby Emma Scarlet Mendoza, Baby Nathaniel Almazar, Baby Genesis Louis De Guzman, Baby Jermaine Briseis J Belista, Baby Kalem Asher Lizada and Baby Fortune are among the Filipino babies who were successfully treated at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. “Our transplantation success rates are some of the best in the world, which is truly a credit to the excellent team at Apollo Hospital that adheres to the highest standards of clinical care. We value the trust our patients put in us with regard to the most complicated of liver transplants (e.g., in babies weighing as less as 4 kilograms), combined liver–kidney transplants and multi-organ transplants,” Dr Sibal said�
Dr Neerav Goyal, Senior Consultant, Liver Transplant Department, Apollo Hospital, Delhi stated, “Liver transplantation in small babies are more complex than a regular liver transplant. We are now able to perform transplants in high risk cases, very small babies, patients with difficult anatomy and patients with multi organ dysfunction. We have also performed liver transplants in patients who do not have blood compatible donors. It is this expertise that gives hope and happiness to patients from world over who come to Apollo Hospitals to seek respite from their ailments.”
Stressing upon the progress achieved in liver transplants, especially in children, Dr. Sibal further added, “An answer to the treatment of liver diseases is the early diagnosis. If a person experiences any of such symptoms then he must seek medical help immediately. Like any other disease Liver Diseases are curable too, if diagnosed and treated timely.”
While in India, Filipino families enjoy the hospitality and warmth provided by the hospital team.
Each family is assigned a dedicated guest relations officer, a single point of contact who facilitates both medical and non-medical queries. “Our team tries to ensure the convenience and comfort of Filipino families during their stay in the hospital by providing them with value added services such as a dedicated lounge. We even offer Filipino cuisine that makes our guests feel at home at Apollo Hospital.” said Raj Raina, General Manager – Marketing & Strategic Business. Families are also offered free airport transfers and free transportation services around the city.
Baby Jermaine from Philippines underwent successful liver transplants at Indraprastha Apollo hospitals last year. “My baby displayed yellow discoloration of eyes and skin, which deepened with time. He was diagnosed with chronic liver disease with Caroli disease, which is a rare congenital disorder of the intrahepatic bile ducts. He/she too underwent living related liver transplant. His operation was successful and he was discharged after 3 weeks. We are thankful to PAR, Hope and Apollo Hospitals for their quick support and speedy recovery of my child,” Jonalyn, mother.
Baby Jed Allen, was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia. He was two weeks old when his parents noticed that he was Jaundiced. His skin and eyes have turned yellow and they have thought it was just a Physiological Jaundice. His parents started to notice that his navel became inflamed, so they immediately brought him to a pediatrician and later on found out that he has Sepsis and Omphalitis.
After a week of being hospitalized, they’ve started panicking after his stool became Acholic (the white colored stool) and immediately went again to a pediatrician. This time he underwent some bloodwork and they were advised to go to Manila to have their baby checked by a Pedia-gastro.
Upon initial examination, they were advised to have our baby admitted. After three weeks of several bloodwork, ultrasounds and lab tests, they found out that their baby has a Biliary Atresia.
“Seeing our baby suffering from such disease and have the idea that he is slowly dying and might not reach childhood is one of the worst experience in the world. It is very hard to accept but ironically it is the very first thing that every parent should do. Acceptance opened our awareness and became motivated to know more about our baby’s condition. This condition is not the kind of disease that is incurable but instead very treatable with liver transplant. We were desperately looking for answers at that time as to how or why did it happen to our baby.” his parents said.
As an interim the doctors did Kasai procedure on him but it failed. The operation didn’t improve their son’s health and the doctor told them that the last resort is a liver transplantation. The only problem is they didn’t have money for it. “At first, my husband is hesitant to do fund raisings but later on was convinced. We stumbled upon a group in Facebook called LITRO. We joined the said group and participated on their raffle-for-a-cause activities. We have learned how we can
raise funds and get guarantee letters from international non-government organizations or charity organizations. We also published our story on local newspaper and on different social networking sites. Weeks after we’ve published our story, we were receiving phone calls from anonymous persons and they we’re sending donations straight to our bank account. When we checked our bank account, there were even more deposits from unknown sources than the actual calls we’ve received, and we were astonished!” Mommy Margie, said.
They have used the money to raise more funds like selling shirts-for-a-cause, sweets, pens, etc.
After five months of fund raising, they have generated enough funds for the transplant and then they have decided to fly to India right after for the transplant.
Upon arriving at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, both parents were examined to see who’s more compatible to be a liver donor and it turned out that it was mommy Margie. They have conducted the liver transplantation right after series of tests and it took mommy Margie eight days befo�re they let her out of the hospital, while twenty-one days for baby Jed. “After our baby was discharged it took us almost a month of follow-up check-ups ensuring our baby’s condition before they told us that we we’re good, to go back to the Philippines.” Mommy Margie said.
Today, baby Jed is getting stronger and stronger everyday and is catching up milestones more quickly than his parents thought. He still has series of laboratory tests at least twice a month to monitor his condition. “Everything that we’ve been through made our faith to God strong and still have the same faith that everything will be okay in the future just as always it has been for us.” �Mommy Margie said.
Partnerships with HOPE Foundation For Children Hope (Hold On Pain Ends) Foundation for Children works closely with BILD hilft e.V. “Ein Herz fur Kinder” based in Germany, in providing financial support to liver transplantation patients.
Due to massive applicants worldwide, BILD hilft e.V. “Ein Herz fur Kinder” only accepts a maximum of 4-5 patients per month from the Philippines through Hold On Pain Ends (HOPE) For Children, Inc. “We started sending patients to Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India by first quarter of 2017 and up to this date there have been around 24 patients from the Philippines who underwent liver transplantation through the help of HOPE and BILD,” said Nina P. Mahler, President, HOPE Foundation For Children, Inc. Mahler is a Registered Nurse and a Registered Midwife by profession and a full-time mom to five children and a housewife.
Mahler is married to Heinz Mahler, a German national from Hamburg, Germany, who helped open the doors to with BILD hilft e.V. “Ein Herz fur Kinder” Mahler adds, “I do believe that influencing one another to help others is a way of promoting humanity. We can save more children from the call of death if we can reach more people who are able to help and are willing
to help.”
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