Department of Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa on Monday said that the agency is already working with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to include liver transplants in the Z Benefits package, as the procedure has become cheaper through a public-private partnership.
Mr. Herbosa said that the joint liver transplant program between The Medical City (TMC) and Rizal Medical Center (RMC), which marked its first anniversary, has cut liver transplant costs by half.
From around P5 million for the procedure at TMC prior to the partnership, the cost has been reduced to around P2.4 million, close to the estimated P2.1 million cost of the procedure in India, excluding travel expenses.
Following this, Mr. Herbosa said it already “makes no sense” to send children in need of transplants to India, urging that the procedure be done in the country instead.
“I will fully support that they be done in the Philippines… As for the PhilHealth Z Benefits, we’re now working with Dr. Erwin M. Mercado, president of PhilHealth,” Mr. Herbosa said in his keynote speech during the program’s anniversary media conference.
The health chief said that the Z Benefits package, PhilHealth’s financial coverage for catastrophic illnesses, for the transplant could reach around P2 million, including immunosuppression medication for kidney transplant patients, which costs around P40,000 a month.
“So we can actually take care of that. I think the money of PhilHealth can cover that,” Mr. Herbosa said.
With the inclusion of liver transplants in the PhilHealth Z Benefits package, he said around 144 patients with biliary atresia — a rare liver disease among infants — could benefit.
Dr. Maria Rica M. Lumague, Medical Center Chief II of Rizal Medical Center, welcomed the proposal, saying that the P2 million coverage is a good start, noting that PhilHealth currently covers only around P50,000 for hepatectomy, or the removal of a portion of the donor’s liver.
“Of course, higher will be better, but to start at P2 million is not bad,” Ms. Lumague told reporters on the sidelines of the media conference.
“With the help and endorsement of Secretary Ted, we hope it’s going to be a reality in the future,” she added.
Meanwhile, TMC said that the joint liver transplant program, formalized through a memorandum of agreement in January 2025, has successfully performed liver transplants on a total of four patients, all of whom are children.
Moving forward, TMC aims to conduct more liver transplants by expanding its facilities and training a new generation of surgeons. — Edg Adrian A. Eva