Shanghai hospital helps save 2-year-old Filipino boy

A Shanghai hospital has successfully performed its first liver transplant on a Filipino child, marking a milestone in medical cooperation between China and the Philippines.

Renji Hospital, affiliated with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, said on Tuesday that the procedure was carried out in mid-February in collaboration with the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center in Manila. The 2-year-old boy's condition is steadily improving, and he is expected to be discharged later this week.

Representatives from both hospitals met in Shanghai on Monday to discuss international medical collaboration, reviewing the results of their partnership and future prospects.

The boy, nicknamed Nieco, had a condition known as congenital biliary atresia, which led to cirrhosis. He had experienced gastrointestinal bleeding 12 times within six months, putting his life in imminent danger. With limited medical resources in the Philippines, his family faced few options.

Through the partnership between the two hospitals, a joint expert team was quickly assembled. Nieco's father volunteered to donate a portion of his liver, and Xia Qiang, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Renji Hospital, performed the transplant.

The six-hour operation gave the child a new lease of life.

"Renji Hospital not only gave my child a new life, but also made us feel the warmth of home," the child's father said.

Renji Hospital, home to the world's largest pediatric liver transplant center, has performed more than 3,800 such procedures, with postoperative survival rates for minor patients ranking among the highest internationally, Xia said.

"We have always upheld the principle that 'medicine knows no borders' and have been at the forefront of promoting the clinical application and expansion of Chinese liver transplant technology in Southeast Asia," he said.

In 2019, Renji Hospital partnered with the University of Malaya Medical Centre in Malaysia to establish an overseas office and launch an international training program for pediatric living donor liver transplantation.

Over the past decade, the hospital has systematically trained more than 50 liver transplant specialists from Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. It also helped complete Malaysia's first pediatric living donor liver transplant and has saved 55 critically ill foreign children.

"The success of this first pediatric liver transplant in the Philippines marks an upgrade in China-Philippines medical cooperation from technology export to system co-construction," Xia said, calling it a significant achievement as the two countries celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year.

Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime FlorCruz, who attended Monday's dialogue, said the collaboration aligns with both nations' strategic development goals, provides a new channel for life-saving treatment in Southeast Asia, and highlights Shanghai's growing influence in global healthcare.

While visiting Shanghai, the medical team from Manila explored Renji Hospital's use of artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis and treatment, and remote consultation platforms, gaining insights into ways to enhance medical services back home.

Renji Hospital said it plans to establish a China-Philippines medical internet hospital cloud platform to promote case sharing, remote consultations and other digital services, allowing Chinese healthcare solutions to reach more patients in Southeast Asia.

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn