(UPDATE) PASIG City has launched a new alliance with major hospitals to expand organ donation efforts and make life-saving transplants more accessible to residents.
Mayor Vico Sotto announced on Saturday that the Pasig Alliance for Organ Donation and Sharing was formed with The Medical City, the Rizal Medical Center and the Pasig City government.
Sotto said the partnership aimed to save lives through organ transplants that can now be done in Pasig instead of forcing families to seek treatment abroad.
“The best part here is, instead of going abroad, the transplant will be done right here in Pasig,” he said.
He said he had seen many families, especially those with young children, struggle to raise money for overseas treatment and even lose their jobs while trying to secure life-saving transplants.
Sotto also cited Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa’s message that the country needed to strengthen the health care system’s capacity to perform more organ transplants.
At its core, the partnership will focus on raising awareness of organ donation, identifying potential multi-organ donors, training and capacity-building, multidisciplinary engagement, activating hospital units and support services, and providing financial assistance to patients and their families.
Sotto said the combined effort, expertise and resources of the participating institutions would help save lives by making organ transplants more accessible to Pasig residents.
