THE dialysis center of the Southern Philippines Medical Center Kidney and Transplant Institute (SKTI) is expected to open this month, with the necessary licenses for the facility to start operating.
The dialysis center is located on the ground floor of the new SKTI building along Dumanlas Road in Davao City and has 100 dialysis machines, making it the biggest of its kind in the region. It aims to supplement the existing 55 dialysis machines of SPMC.
Aside from the 100 machines at the dialysis center, the SKTI facility has 33 other dialysis machines located in the suites and operating rooms on the upper levels of the building, which was constructed with a budget of P1 billion and inaugurated on November 28, 2025.
According to Dr. Maria Theresa Bad-ang, nephrologist and head of the SKTI, the eventual opening will provide much-needed dialysis machine equipment so they can cater to the 300 dialysis patients of the SPMC.
“At present, SPMC caters to 300 patients on dialysis; that is the total number of patients on dialysis. We have a total of 55 machines, and 100 machines will be added,” Bad-ang said.
“With the additional machines, the SPMC can receive more patients once they start on dialysis, giving quality and, at the same time, service,” she added.
Bad-ang said the dialysis center was realized through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between SPMC and Variance Trading Corporation, which brought the modern German-made B. Braun dialysis machines.
With the dialysis center opening, the SKTI can offer more kidney care services aside from kidney transplants.
Currently, they are averaging two to four transplants in a month. And courtesy of the PhilHealth Z benefit package, transplant patients can avail of free transplant medicines.
“Normally they will pay P40,000, P50,000 a month para bumili ng medicines. Right now it’s free by PhilHealth, plus the laboratories are part of the PhilHealth na free, it’s P10,000 per month, P40,000 ang medicines, that is P50,000 per month,” Bad-ang said.
The free medicines and laboratories help reduce the hesitancy of transplant patients who worry about the cost of the post-transplant medicines. PIA DAVAO