MANILA - Despite the torrential rains, about 50 rallyists picketed the Belo Medical Group (BMG) office at Tomas Morato on Friday, to show support for a businesswoman who suffered injuries allegedly from a butt augmentation procedure performed by a former BMG doctor.

The complainant, Josefina P. Norcio, 40, suffered complications from two butt augmentation procedures performed by BMG doctors in 2003 and 2005.

Norcio filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injuries against Dr. Francis Decangchon, who performed the second butt augmentation surgery on Norcio. Decangchon, an obstetric gynecologist, is no longer affliated with the BMG.

Jing Porte of the Women Against Medical Malpractice and Abuse group, advocating for women's rights, said Norcio is at the St. Luke's Medical Center undergoing treatment for infection allegedly caused by her hydrogel buttock implants.

She said in a phone interview that Norcio cannot sit, walk, or wear her lower garments properly since she is still suffering from open wounds on her buttocks, which were "bulging with pus." Norcio had been undergoing surgery and treatment for this since May 12.

Decangchon was set to appear before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday afternoon to answer charges made against him. The NBI will also summon Dr. Vicki Belo, owner of the BMG, to present her side on the issue.

'Collorum clinics'
Norcio said she consulted with Belo prior to her butt augmentation procedures, and that Belo assured her the implants were "safe and permanent." "I thought [Belo] was the best in the industry, but she's not. She did not even finish her dermatology residency," Norcio said in a statement.

Norcio paid P120,000 for her first surgery, and another P180,000 when she went back to the clinic to have doctors correct the assymetry on her buttocks.

According to a fact sheet issued by the patient's lawyer, Norcio started to feel bad in May this year. On May 11, her buttocks swelled to three times its size, causing pain and tenderness.

Norcio's lawyer Atty. Argee Guevarra said in a phone interview that the hydrogel material, which was implanted directly against the patient's muscles, had spread to other parts of Norcio's body nearly causing the patient's death.

Guevarra said the BMG is culpable for Norcio's injuries since they are not authorized to use hydrogel butt implants or perform surgeries on patients. He said the hydrogel material - composed of 97.5% water - was banned in the U.S., Europe and China, and is not certified by the Bureau of Food and Drugs.

"We just learned recently that the Belo group sources its hydrogel from China, which banned the product. Also, the Belo group has only 2 licensed surgeons among its 70 or 80 doctors. So really, this brings to question the existence of collorum clinics. So really, clinics like Belo's are really just beauty parlors masquerading as clinics," he said.

The NBI is yet to release its medical results on Norcio's implants, but Guevarra said this is immaterial to the case.

"In my legal opinion, this is immaterial. Her attending physician at the St. Luke's [Dr. Lawrence Loh] already said that there was a migration of this substance to other parts of the body. Any bacteria mixed with the hydrogel makes complications. Norcio was in spetic shock and she almost died," he said.

Possible risks
In an interview, Belo's lawyer Atty. Adel Tamano admitted that there were hundreds of patients who have undergone the same butt augmentation treatment at the clinic.

Guevarra said he was alarmed by the number of patients who underwent this procedure, all facing possible risks.

Meanwhile, BMG's Corporate Public Relations Chief Leah Salterio said in a statement that the BMG cannot comment on Norcio's condition since they have not examined her yet.

She also noted that Norcio's infection came four years after her surgery was performed, and that other "supervening events" may have occurred within that time.

"Allow us to say that Belo Medical only wishes the best for Ms. Norcio and we pray for her full and speedy recovery," Salterio said in a statement.

Norcio's complaint is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed against the BMG for alleged botched surgeries over the years. In February 2009, nurse Leila Palaganas filed a P20-million moral damages suit against the clinic for an allegedly failed "Thermage" skin procedure. Report from Kristine Servando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.