Dagupan hospital to conduct kidney transplant soon

DAGUPAN CITY -- The Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC) located at Arellano Street here will conduct its first ever kidney transplant this September.

This was disclosed by R1MC Director Joseph Roland Mejia as he stressed that the goal of the hospital is to become the organ transplant center in the north.

He said R1MC has a license to conduct kidney transplant and the realization of this will better opportunity give kidney patients who could not afford to have the transplant in Manila

R1MC will likewise set to open its laboratory for heart patients.

Meanwhile, the R1MC Dialysis Center again opened its doors Friday after several days of temporary closure.

Mejia said the dialysis center originally had five dialysis machines. It was increased to 20 machines, thus, the facility was upgraded to to accomodate the new machines purchased through the financial aid from Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

They are also contemplating on lowering the P2,500 charge per dialysis session. Patients are not only from Pangasinan but also from the neighboring provinces of Tarlac, Zambales, La Union and Baguio City.

Mejia also announced that fourth district Representative Gina de Venecia had filed House Bill 3940, an act increasing the bed capacity and authorizing the increase of its medical personnel, upgrading its services, facilities and professional health care.

It is now being discussed in the bicameral committee level of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

It was also learned from De Venecia that the upgrading and modernization of the R1MC is number three among the top 22 priority projects of the Department of Health.

The hospital expansion will be carried out in a period of five years with sixty beds added yearly.