Manila: The government is poised to launch a crackdown on establishments offering stem cell treatment without proper accreditation amid reports that at least two lawmakers had died after undergoing such medical procedure.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona said a number of commercial establishments had mushroomed across the country offering stem cell therapy, however, only a few of these are properly accredited by the Department of Health.
Reports quoted Ona as saying that patrons are putting their lives at risk by getting service from these practitioners instead of government accredited establishments.
The crackdown on unlicensed clinics and hospitals providing these kind of medical services in the country came in the wake of reports that two lawmakers and a government executive had died after undergoing stem cell therapy.
According to Dr Leo Olarte, President of the Philippine Medical Association, the three had separately undergone stem cell therapy to cure their respective illnesses, particularly liver cancer, heart disease and pneumonia. The three were all senior aged.
“We were told that the two died one year after undergoing the medical procedures while the third passed away only recently,” he said.
At least one of the patients, received treatment from a doctor who had studied in Germany who is known to use stem cells taken from non-human sources such as rabbits and sheep.
Stem cell therapies is a relatively new field in medicine, and according to Olarte, they should only be performed in government-accredited hospitals and clinics and the cells should only be taken from the patient to minimise the risk of rejection.
Rejection, the process wherein the patient’s own antibodies react of a foreign cell, can be fatal to the patient.
“Stem cells are our own natural healers or repair cells. Our immune system are our body’s own defence system against anything that can harm us,” he said.
Last March, the Department of Health had issued guidelines on stem cell therapy,
Administrative 2013-0012 which is aimed at ensuring that human stem cells and cell-based therapies in the country are safe and effective for their intended use.
Olarte had earlier expressed concern over the sale of supposedly stem cell products that come in the form of injectables, tables and even soaps.
He said they have received reports that human stem cells from human foetuses and female egg cells are being used in anti-aging procedures and other medical treatments.
Stem cell therapies cost anywhere from several thousands to millions of pesos and are considered as one of the more lucrative areas in the medical profession.
“Don’t patronise those products. It is unfair that stem cell therapy becomes a quackery,” Olarte, who is also spokesman of the Philippine Society for Stem Cell Medicine, said.
