One of the newest beneficiaries of the Gabriel Symphony Foundation is the Pediatric Neurosurgical and Craniofacial Operating Unit of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) in Manila.

The new facility serves very young children suffering from various ailments caused by congenital malformations of the brain and spinal cord. Prior to the establishment of the facility, some of these children had been waiting two years for their cranial and spinal operation.

 

Since it opened on April 1, 2008, the unit has already operated on 124 children coming from indigent families. This has significantly de-clogged the backlog of patients awaiting operation at the Out-Patient Department of the UP-PGH.

 

The most common cases include hydrocephalus (abnormal expansion of cavities within the brain caused by accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid); encephaloceles (a rare neural tube defect characterized by sac-like protrusions of the brain and the membranes that cover it through openings in the skull); and spina bifida (a congenital defect or opening in the spinal column through which the spinal membranes or spinal cord may protrude). Recently, the unit has also begun performing on tumor cases which do not require microscopic work. 

 

The facility has also allowed UP-PGH doctors to gain broader experience in doing cranial and spinal operations. Currently the only formal craniofacial unit in the country, the facility allows plastic surgeons and neurosurgeons to combine their expertise to come up with functionally and cosmetically better results.

 

Last year the facility received a P340,000 donation from Senator Pia S. Cayetano, courtesy of the Gabriel Symphony Foundation. The fund was intended to finance the allowances of its nursing staff and subsidize the surgical operations.            

 

Improvements still need to be done, however. The facility has no air-conditioning, the instruments are still incomplete, and regular budget for personnel staffing still very much depends on the generosity of private donations. With your kind donations, you too can be an angel to the children of the UP-PGH Pediatric Neurosurgical and Craniofacial Operating Unit.