LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — This first-class town and capital of Benguet is allocating PHP9 million for the purchase of medicines and medical equipment and PHP1 million for those needing dialysis treatment, according to La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda.
Salda told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) each dialysis patient could avail of a maximum of PHP3,000 per dialysis session, to be sourced from the town’s social welfare office as a financial medical assistance.
He said the financial aid could increase, depending on the medical condition of the patient.
Meanwhile, the town government had partnered with private global organizations for the recent conduct of a medical mission that benefitted over 1,000 people from La Trinidad.
The locals from the town’s 16 barangays or villages received medical, dental, and optical services, including free eyeglasses and medicines, from the medical mission conducted Saturday by several Lions Clubs organizatìons, in partnership with the municipal health office.
Salda said the Lions Clubs from Japan, China, and Malaysia, as well as volunteers from Lions Clubs of Manila and Baguio, helped health representatives from the local government do minor surgeries like removal of cysts, and dental and optical services, blood sugar screening, and medical consultations.
About 25 foreign doctors from the Organization of Southeast Asian Lions (OSEAL) clubs coming from China, Japan, and Malaysia came, led by Lions Club Past International Director Dati Ellis Suriyati Omar, a Malaysian.
There was also some gift-giving conducted as part of the activity.
Salda thanked the officers and members of the international groups for conducting the one-day medical mission that benefitted his constituents.
One of the beneficiaries, young student Muriel Incio of Kilometer 2 Barangay Balili, received an artificial eye during the activity.
“We are so grateful to God, to the foreign medical volunteers, and to everybody who made it happen,” said Salda, who was moved upon learning of Incio’s successful procedure.
Salda said the group, through Omar, had signified their intention to sustain the medical mission and even expand it to include educational and tourism programs to further foster stronger friendship ties with the town. (Primo Agatep/PNA)
