THE DEPARTMENT of Orthopedics of the Southern Philippine Medical Center advocates for scoliosis awareness for young patients to do early screenings of scoliosis diseases.
During the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM Ecoland, SPMC Trauma and Spine Consultant Dr. Mohammad Khalil A. Guinomla, advocated for Scoliosis Awareness Month as the condition is preventable through early screenings and diagnosis, and can be treated by non-surgical means.
SPMC has two scoliosis patients who will undergo surgery.
“It’s very important to have proper screening, especially for our elementary students cause sometimes the problem is when patients go to the clinic medyo severe na ang disease,” he said on June 24.
Guinomla highlighted that Juvenile Idiopathic scoliosis is the most common type of scoliosis and has a high tendency to progress. Juvenile idiopathic scoliosis is also diagnosed in patients at the ages 3 to 10 and can be identified with an abnormal spinal curvature measuring more than 10 degrees.
During an interview, Guinomla shared that 6 years ago, SPMC had a yearly medical mission of operating 8 to 10 scoliosis patients per month for free. However, due to the financial burden of treating scoliosis, he hopes that the mission will continue in the future and seek other government agencies for help.
June is declared as the Scoliosis Awareness Month in the Philippines every year by Proclamation No. 620, signed by former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte on November 8, 2018.
According to BusinessWorld in 2022, an estimated 3 million Filipinos are diagnosed with scoliosis based on the Scoliosis Research Society’s data.
