Manila, Oct 19: President Ram Nath Kovind today interacted with the parents of the infants in the Philippines who successfully underwent liver transplant in India, expressing happiness about the country’s engagement with the key Southeast Asian country that has brought people’s causes within its expanding ambit.
In the last 28 months, 35 babies from the Philippines have underwent successful liver transplant in India as part of the Philippines-India Pediatric Liver Transplant Program.
“Indian medical institutions are working with their counterparts in the Philippines to see how the success rate as well as the costs of similar transplant in the Philippines could be brought down,” President Kovind said in a tweet.
Kovind said that he is delighted that India’s engagement with Philippines has brought “people’s causes and life-giving projects within its expanding ambit.” Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet that the president listened to the stories of liver transplant performed on Filipino infants.
“President of India listened to stories of liver transplantation performed on Filipino infants by Indian doctors at Max and Apollo hospitals to cure Biliary Atresia. Filipino chapter of FICCI is supporting poor patients to meet the treatment,” he tweeted.
According to media reports, the Philippines is struggling with the high cost of specialised medical procedures, such as liver transplants, in the country.
The Philippine Star newspaper reported in August that issues such as unavailability of highly specialised medical equipment, lack of training for liver transplantation medical personnel and expensive medicines are some of the factors leading to high cost of the treatment in the country.
Due to this, patients are forced to seek treatment in countries such as India, where it is cheaper to undergo medical procedures.