(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday launched the countrys first lung transplant at the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) in Quezon City.

The Lung Transplant Program, which was made in collaboration with the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), aims to offer services that improve the lives of those afflicted with irreversible lung diseases.

"Let us remember that health care is our covenant with the people, a public commitment driven by neither political agenda nor personal legacy projects. In this hospital where heroes walked and worked, may this program be a testament to our unwavering duty to serve the Filipinos," Marcos said in his speech.

"The partnership between LCP and NKTI can be a template in which hospitals pool their resources and share assets to boost patient care and improve bottom lines. The launch of the LCP and the NKTI Lung Transplant Program is an application of the proven maxim that two heads — two hospitals — are better than one," he added.

The NKTI and LCP initiated the creation of a joint lung transplant program on Nov. 25, 2022, through a memorandum of agreement to develop a lung transplant manual that addresses barriers such as lack of infrastructure and organ donation and allocation system, limited access to trained personnel, and financial constraints.

The program aims to improve the LCP

s infrastructure capacity, which includes the P4.2-million renovation of the post-anesthesia care unit and the P1.8-million surgical intensive care unit funded by the 2024 General Appropriations Act and private sector donations.

Records showed pneumonia and other forms of respiratory diseases were among the top 20 causes of mortality from January to July 2023, while acute lower respiratory tract infection and tuberculosis also remain among the top causes of illness in the country.

Marcos expressed confidence that the LCP and the NKTI will succeed with the project. The LCP was created in 1981 by virtue of Presidential Decree (PD) 1823, while the NKTI is a tertiary medical specialty center created in 1981 through PD 1832.

"It is the same grand vision [that] prompted the establishment of the LCP and the NKTI and the Heart Center during an era when great things were not only dreamed of but developed. Build, Better More is of the same ethos which should animate us today, to march forward, instead of just running in place," Marcos said.

The Chief Executive also vowed to help rehabilitate the NKTI Annex building damaged by fire in 1998.

"Thats the first thing that we have to look into," he said. "We are playing catch-up, but we will do all that we can," he added.

Meanwhile, Marcos said his administration plans to establish an additional 179 medical specialty centers before the end of his term.

So far, the government has established 131 functional specialty centers nationwide, nine of which are dedicated lung care centers.