New home for kids with cancer

Since 2001, Maria Fe Morejon has been tirelessly accompanying her daughter Joaida Ziv to the Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

Joaida Ziv, now 13 years old, is afflicted with Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus Syndrome, a rare blood vessel disorder that gave her unsightly and oftentimes painful bluish-colored swellings on her face as well as in the neck, shoulder and limbs.

Due chronic internal bleeding that accompanies Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus Syndrome, she is also required to undergo regular blood transfusion procedures as well as iron supplementation, a treatment that requires Joaida Ziv’s parents to shell out at least P40,000 a month.

“If not for PCMC’s Pediatric Cancer and Hematology Center, we wouldn’t be able to afford the monthly treatment considering the meager salary that my husband makes as a company driver,” said the 43-year-old housewife who also goes out of her way to seek financial help from benevolent individuals, religious and other charitable institutions.

No surprise

It’s no surprise then, that when Maria Fe and a number of parents learned that PCHC will have a new home—a 3-story building that will rise on a 300 square-meter lot located at the back of the hospital—they all attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

“This groundbreaking ceremony is significant for us because by moving to a bigger home, more of us poor families with sick children will be able to receive inexpensive yet effective treatment,” Maria Fe explained.

The P25-million building funded by the Health Department is set to be completed by the end of this year.

“At present we are struggling to keep up with the growing number of patients seeking the center’s help because PCHC’s current 20-bed facility could only accommodate around 50 young outpatients a day. By moving to a new and bigger home, PCHC would be able to offer 50 beds and the ability to accommodate around 100 young outpatients a day,” said Dr. Julius Lecciones, PCMC executive director.

Education and training

Lecciones added that PCMC plans to locate in the new PCHC building, facilities and offices that would enable the education and training of more health personnel on the grassroots level possible.

“These facilities and offices will enable our health personnel to recognize cancer and channel immediate referrals to physicians in order to diagnose the disease early and give appropriate treatment,” he said.

The new building will serve as a “nerve center” that will promote excellence in pediatric oncology. “From here we will continue our efforts to establish a national referral network as well as develop funding solutions to match the financial capability of families of these afflicted children,” Lecciones explained.

Long-term survival

He added that if detection is improved, the Philippines may be able to increase the long-term survival rate, which is currently at two out of 10 patients.

“Our aim is to reduce childhood cancer mortality to at least 50 percent over the next five years through the concerted efforts of government, professional groups and the private sector. PCMC is in a unique position to contribute greatly to this crusade because this hospital is focusing to its main constituency, the sick children from poor families,” he said.

As the country’s biggest tertiary care center for children under the control of the Department of Health’s National Centers for Specialized Health Care, the PCMC also trains doctors to become pediatric oncologists that would enable them to become more adept at diagnosing cancer in children.

Since 1997, PCMC has already trained more than 30 pediatric oncologists, some of them assigned in the 13 satellite centers located in select hospitals around the country. They serve as PCMC’s arms in province as well as its first line personnel.

Activities

“Despite our efforts, most activities are still concentrated here at PCHC. Hopefully, with the P280 million that is allotted to this hospital, we would be able to buy the needed medical equipment including CT scan, MRI and diagnostic machines that could improve PCHC’s capacity to help more children with cancer and blood disorders,” said Dr. Maria Cecilia Cruz of PCMC.

Lecciones related that it took PCMC four years and countless meetings with government executives in both the House of Representatives and the DOH as well as philanthropists and private corporations in order to secure the needed funding.

“Aside from the financial support we are receiving from the government, we are also thankful that private corporations like sanofi-aventis continue to support us (aside from the P841,000 that it recently handed over, the French pharmaceutical company already donated around P10 million to support the hospital’s My Child Matters Program that began in 2006),”  Lecciones reported.

Childhood cancer is the fourth leading cause of child death in the country, accounting to 7 to 10 percent of total child deaths.

It is reported that every year, an estimated 3,500 Filipino children get stricken with cancer but only 2,500 of them get to be diagnosed.