Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr. turns over a highly-specialized burn treatment machine to the Southern Philippines Medical Center Tuesday morning, March 26.
The P2.9 million Humeca Meek Graft Machine and Dermatomein burn treatment machine is now operational and under the supervision of Dr. Rizal D. Aportadera Burn Center SPMC. 
It was Vice Director of the Center Dr. Arnulfo Enriquez Mapayo who initially approached Cong. Floirendo to sponsor the purchase of the machine thru the Junior Chamber International Kadayawan’s flagship project entitled “Lamdag sa Kabataan tugon ng Kadayawan”.
Considering that the center caters not only to burn patients from Davao Region but the entire island of Mindanao and some parts of the Visayas Region, the project was started by JCI Kadayawan in 2016 under its former president Cathy Binag.
The machine is the first in the Philippines and is very effective because the affected burn wounds are closing twice as fast and it can decrease infections twice as much compared to other machines.
It is highly specialized machine because MEEK is mainly used for patients that suffer more than 30% total Body Surface Area burns.
However MEEK is also very suitable for patients with 5% – 20% TBSA burns. In most cases, 40 – 50% less donor sites have to be used and these same donor sites could be used again within two weeks.
Floirendo said no government money was used in the purchase of the said machine and that his sponsorship was due to the fact that it was requested by his partner Cathy Binag as their birthday gift to the people of Davao.
Floirendo revealed that when he was five years old he was also burned by firecrackers he placed in his pocket. That is why, he said, he knows the pain burn patients feel while undergoing treatment.
The congressman from Davao del Norte hopes that the machine could help more patients not just from Davao del Norte but also from other parts of Mindanao that seeks treatment in the island’s primary government hospital.
Dr. Aportadera meanwhile said that this would be the first hospital-owned Meek burn treatment machine in the entire Philippines.
He said that due to the cost, other hospitals just rent it from the suppliers instead of buying it.
Aportadera expressed gratitude to Cong. Floirendo for the donation because SPMC will now be more equipped to treat burn patients.
It was learned that the SPMC Burn Center is the biggest burn unit in the country and that they treat around 300-500 patients a year with some staying at the center for almost a year due to the slow process of skin grafting.
Aportadera said that with the new machine, they can treat patients better pand faster.
During the turnover, Floirendo ordered more specialized gauze for the said machine so that more people could use it.
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