Pediatric surgeon Dr. Marcus Lester Suntay (middle), president of WSFP, explains the need for surgical missions for underprivileged Filipinos, as Lapu-Lapu City Hospital medical director Dr. Cliff Canton (left) and Megawide Foundation chief operating officer Sheila Lynn Nawata listen. | Photo by Irene R. Sino Cruz
LAPU-LAPU CITY—If plans push through, Lapu-Lapu City Hospital will have a world-class surgical unit.
Pediatric surgeon Dr. Marcus Lester Suntay, president of the World Surgical Foundation Philippines, disclosed this plan on Friday, March 8, which is the last day of the three-day surgical mission held at the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital.
WSF, together with Megawide Foundation and GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), conducted a 3-day surgical mission from March 6 to 8 that provided minor and major surgical operations for free to underprivileged and adult patients.
Read more: 200 patients benefit from WSF Philippines-Megawide Foundation’s surgical mission in Lapu-Lapu
More than 200 patients benefitted from the mission.
According to Suntay, the WSF Philippines, together with the Megawide Foundation, would be slowly providing state-of-the-art medical equipment needed for surgery in five to 10 years.
“This plan would address three aspects. One is to address the surgical backlog. Second is to equip the hospital. So, slowly, if our partner foundation would agree, we would help out with regards to the surgical unit,” he said.
By then, advance surgical procedures, usually done in Manila and Cebu City hospitals, could be done at the hospital, Suntay said.
The special microscope set up (left) worth P130,000 and the P1.5 million pathology equipment (right) were among those brought by the World Surgical Foundation Philippines (WSFP) during their 3 day surgical mission in Lapu-Lapu City Hosptial . |Irene R. Sino Cruz
He added that they would be donating the equipment over time so the hospital could bring in specialist-doctors.
Suntay said they would also provide training for the hospital surgical staff by bringing experts here.
He said that Lapu-Lapu City Hospital could be a good model.
“If this works out here, then we’ll bring this to other provinces also,” he added.
Dr. Cliff Canton, Lapu-Lapu City Hospital medical director, welcomed the proposal so the hospital could provide surgical services to Lapu-Lapu City residents.
Canton said they would usually refer patients to hospitals in Cebu City since they lacked the medical equipment needed to perform major surgeries.
The hospital is currently undergoing a major renovation and has completed the first phase of the hospital, he said.
Upon completion of the project, the hospital will have a capacity of 100 beds.
According to Canton, their goal would be to acquire level 2 classification for the city hospital./dbs