The training course program on the proper management of tissue and organ donation has been capacitating different hospitals in Mindanao in a bid to intensify organ donation campaign and practices in this part of the country.

The Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) continues to facilitate the Transplant Procurement Management (TPM) training course, involving the organ donation teams from the identified hospitals.

Dr. Maria Theresa Bad-ang, head of the SPMC Organ Transplant Services Unit- SPMC Human Advocate and Retrieval Effort (OTSU-SHARE) Team, emphasized the need to intensify the organ donation campaign, noting the many patients awaiting organ transplant.

“In SPMC alone, we have a total of 250 patients waiting for a kidney and 90,000 patients on dialysis. We have five liver cirrhosis patients. They are just waiting," Bad-ang said during the recently held 2024 Organ Donation Summit in Davao City.

Highlighted in the training course are the identification of potential donors, diagnosis of brain-dead patients, donor management, and getting consent from the families.

Various organ donation teams, consisting of different medical specialists and nurses, from Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan de Oro City, Ciudad Zamboanga Medical Center in Zamboanga City, Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City, Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City, and SMPC in Davao City, have recently completed the said training.

One of the TPM graduates who recently completed the course is Dr. Emelyn Concon, a pulmonologist and one of the members of the organ donation team from the Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Cotabato City of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Concon said that the organ donation program in CRMC is yet to be established. In fact, they are currently in the planning phase of adopting the program in their hospital.

She said that when they received the invitation from SPMC for the training course under ODISSeA, they immediately accepted the offer, saying this would be a great opportunity to learn about organ donation.

Concon pointed out that, just like any other government hospital or referral center, CRMC also faces increasing cases of organ failures and dialysis patients, and organ transplantation is the most practical treatment for these cases.

She added that the potential donors are already in the hospitals through brain-dead patients that, with proper care and approach, would significantly save lives.

She revealed that this ethical consideration is what they first established in CRMC.

Concon commended the training course offered by SPMC, saying, “is already a good start.”

She said that after the training, their next step would be capacitating all medical professionals and personnel in the hospital.

As they equip their hospital personnel with knowledge on organ donation, she shared that they will also build facilities and equipment for organ retrieval and transplantation in their hospital.

“Mag-equip na din ng mga infrastructure, pati mga gamit kasi mahirap din kasi magstart ng organ donation tapos hindi kompleto ang gamit," she said.

(We will need infrastructure and equipment because it will be difficult to start organ donation with incomplete facilities)

Although they are in the planning phase, Concon is optimistic that the organ donation program in CRMC will soon be established.

Since 2016, they have been receiving 300 referrals per year, although there was a decrease during the pandemic.

For instance, last year, Sorrosa said that they had approached 20 families to ask for consent for their loved ones to be potential donors after being diagnosed as brain dead. However, only one family consented and successfully retrieved the cornea and eyes.

Despite the increase in referrals, getting the consent of the families is still their major concern.

“Mataas yung referral rate pero yung talagang umabot 'dun sa na-utilize na organ or parang na-retrieve mo yun organ is konti lang sila,” he said.

(The referral rate is high, but reaching to the point of utilizing the organ or retrieval of the organ is minimal)

Sorrosa attributed the lower consent rate to the lack of understanding of the organ donation process.

Increasing the number of donors and the consent rate

Sorrosa said their next goal "is to increase the number of illegible donors and consent rate."

He said that alongside various training for healthcare professionals, they also have extensive information drives and education campaigns to make the public aware of organ donation and make them advocates of organ donation.

Bad-ang said that one of their initiatives is that they go to schools to educate students and teachers about organ donation.

She said that their collaboration with the City Government of Davao paved the way for passing and implementing a City Ordinance to promote organ donation - the first in the country.

"Davao already has a city ordinance on organ donation. We're just waiting for the IRR," Bad-ang said. (ASO/PIA Davao/Thumbnail photo from DOH XI)