Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Apl de Ap donates retinal imaging machines to SPMC



DAVAO CITY Oct. 20-  Filipino-American pop star Allan Pineda Lindo or more popularly  known as Apl de Ap thru his  Apl foundation donated a brand new retinal diagnostic equipment to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).

Apl de Ap, founding member of the Grammy award winning group Black Eyed Peas graced the turn-over of the Retcam TM Shuttle diagnostic equipment held yesterday (October 20) at the SPMC in Davao City.

The Retcam is a pediatric retinal imaging system used to screen premature babies for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), an affliction among premature born infants that can cause blindness if not addressed within 48 hours of birth/diagnosis.

Dr. Pearl Camesis Villalon, chair of the ROP Working Group of the Philippine College of Opthamology said that ROP us the common listed cause of visual impairment among blind children in the country.

Thru the Apl Foundation’s The Campaign for Filipino Children , the first health initiative on addressing ROP aims to create local capacity in the medical community and also to create awareness about ROP.
Among the collaborators of the initiative is the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology, Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and WesternUnion.com as the presenting sponsor. Chairon of the campaign is Sonia Delen of the executive committee of Apl Foundation.

Villalon said that in the country only 26 doctors can diagnose ROP and these are all based in Manila.
The presence of the ROP machines and capacity building for doctors has enabled the three retinal specialists and three pediatric ophthalmologists in SPMC to diagnose and treat  ROP.

Apl de Ap said addressing blindness among children is close to his heart being legally blind at an early age Apl said that growing up visually impaired was difficult.

“I cannot read what is written on the blackboard and had to play catch-up in school lessons relying on my classmates written notes.” Apl said.

His ambition to be a  nurse or architect was curtailed because of his eye condition thus the ROP project is a way of paying forward to children like him who are visually impaired.

RETCAM presents high level of optics which can provide imaging to the eyes of newborn pre-term infants particularly its blood vessels. The machine costs about $125,000 or roughly P5-million with a maintenance cost of P120,000 a year.

SPMC is the only recipient of the imaging equipment outside of Metro Manila. (PIA/RG Alama)

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