MARAWI CITY – The Amai Pakpak Medical Center (APMC) opened its heart institute on August 11 which aims to deliver quality and advance healthcare services to patients with heart problems here and the province of Lanao del Sur.
AMONG the state-of-the-art facilities of the Amai Pakpak Medical Center Heart Institute in Marawi City which opened on Friday, August 11. (Bonita L. Ermac)
Dr. Shalimar S. Rakiin, APMC chief, said the heart institute will serve as a regional referral center by collaborating with peripheral healthcare facilities to improve the healthcare system and enhance its capacity to manage complex cardiac cases.
The establishment of the APMC Heart Institute is in line with the thrust of universal healthcare and is part of the mandate of the Department of Health to explore the regionalization of health care.
The initiative of the Philippine Heart Center for their 2012 performance governance system is to decentralize cardiovascular care and increase access to such services in the country by bringing the “brand” of the PHC patient-focused and compassionate care to the regions.
In 2021, the PHC led the first cardiovascular surgical mission in APMC to expedite the adoption of APMC as a regional heart center.
People in Lanao del Sur would go to nearby cities or even to Manila to seek treatment for cardiovascular diseases. Some of them would be left untreated or die along the way because of fatal attacks caused by heart illness.
Rakiin said with the establishment of the heart institute, “Our long endeavor has finally come true, to serve the people by being a regional heart center of Lanao del Sur.”
The APMC official added the APMC Heart Institute is now ready to serve the people of the Bangsamoro, nearby provinces, cities and municipalities.
Philippine Heart Center Executive Director Dr. Joel M Abadilla congratulated hospital officials for leaving no stone unturned in opening the facility.
"So, they can now come here, they need not go to far-flung places and have that surgery done, it can now be done right here, that is wonderful inspiring message to the people of Mindanao," he said.
The seven-story, 438-bed hospital also received support from the King Salman Foundation in Saudi Arabia.
The national government has provided P100 million to P200 million from the national expenditure program but not all were allocated for the institute, said Rakiin.
The hospital has already spent P150 million from the General Appropriations Act of the DOH, said Rakiin, and acknowledged every stakeholder instrumental to the realization of their dream of having this heart institute.
The inauguration was graced by DOH FICT-Visayas Mindanao Undersecretary Dr. Abdullah B. Dumama Jr.
Heart institute services include catheterization laboratory headed by Dr. Nashiba Daud together with Dr. Sohaili Laguindab, both IM interventionalists who perform coronary angiogram, angioplasty, hemodynamic studies, and permanent pacemaker insertion.
The cardiovascular operating room is capable of open and closed heart surgeries, peripheral vascular surgery, open central vascular surgery and aortic surgery, and open endovenous surgery by Maranao thoracic and vascular surgeon Dr. Ali T. Macatanong.
The heart institute will soon have the Z-Benefit Accreditation for coronary bypass graft, ventricular septal defect closure, and tetralogy of fallout correction.
Some of the equipment available in the heart institute include wall-mounted catheterization laboratory machine, an advanced heart-lung machine, and an intra-aortic balloon pump.