The gift of health
During the medical screening of our recent surgical mission in CARAGA region, an indigent tries desperately to pass doctor’s health assessment to avail of free surgery. She wants to undergo a thyroid operation – a surgical procedure that entails the removal of goiter mass. She was rejected the first time she underwent medical screening as tests proved she had toxic goiter, a condition which makes the patient inoperable, due to risks of fatal complications. Patients that do not pass these tests are usually advised to take medication first to ease the toxicity levels which could take some time.
Desperate, the patient went home to change clothes. Having been denied the first time, she was hoping that if she changed her “costume” another doctor from the medical screening would not notice. Of course, she was again denied but not because she blew her disguise. Another doctor eventually found out she is not qualified to undergo surgery as her blood work again showed.
The persistence of this particular patient simply shows how desperate people are for health services especially in the hinterlands where there are fewer hospitals, doctors or resources. A typical thyroid procedure would cost nearly a hundred thousand pesos if done in private hospitals in Metro Manila and many of our countrymen can only hope of getting the procedure free of charge.
And then there are those who are resigned to their ailments, allowing fate to take control of their lives. At a similar surgical mission in Capiz, a woman with an ovarian cyst had endured three years of almost being bed ridden because she and her husband cannot afford to have her 16 kilogram cyst removed. She looked “pregnant” – her frail body could not anymore take the load of her cyst.
Her husband had resigned from work just to help her move about their home. They relied on dole outs from family and neighbors as they have no livelihood. They would have wanted to be healed and bear a child but her ovarian cyst like poverty, stood in the way. Finally, through a surgical mission she underwent free surgery and now lives a normal life. Her husband is also back to work.
In the last three years that we’ve been doing Libreng Operasyon with the Philippine Society of Anesthesiologists (PSA) as part of ABS-CBN Regional Network Group Public Service, we’ve seen the dire state of health care in the countryside. We have given free surgery in Dapitan City, Capiz, Laoag, Sorsogon, and most recently in Butuan.
For each leg lasting two days, with our team of surgeons from the Philippine College of Surgeons (PCS) and PSA, we do an average of 50 major operations (herniotomy, herniorraphy, thyroidectomy, pelvic laparoptomy) and about 60 minor operations such as chelioplasty, palatoplasty and excision of cysts. Most of our patients undergo a medical screening (to determine if they are operable) and a social screening to make sure those who benefit from the mission come from the poorest of the poor.
The surgical missions are usually announced on television weeks before the actual surgery dates, beginning with the medical screening where thousands from various towns and villages troop to the venue for a chance to avail of free surgery. From the thousands initially seen by a team of doctors, the list is shortened to about 500 patients to be scheduled for social screening.
The social screening takes place a week after the medical screening where social workers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development or the local government unit work hand in hand with ABS- CBN social workers. The team follows tight guidelines during the interview to determine the economic status of the candidate. We need to make sure those falling way below minimum wage gets priority. Those that pass social screening will undergo laboratory testing and worked up by our team of doctors to make sure they are fit enough to go under the knife.
Every time we hold a surgical mission (usually in poor provinces) logistics would always be a problem. In a given area where the missions are to be held, we would seek permission for the use of the biggest hospital available, in most cases the provincial hospitals.
But despite being the biggest in the area many of our provincial health institutions do not have enough operating rooms or tables, supplies and equipment. Our team of doctors need to bring their own supplies and medicines most of the time. Even anesthesia machines are shipped to the provinces by partners to ensure patient safety. Medicines and supplies are also flown in from Manila.
But we have been blessed with countless partners who have endlessly provided for the needs of both the patients and our partner doctors. Volunteer nurses have also offered free services during our missions.
For the doctors and the volunteers, it is their way of giving back to the community. Those who are blessed in many ways in life find surgical missions an opportunity to share what they have with those who have the least.
The physical removal of cysts, tumors or the restoration of smiles for cleft lip operations are the most visible results of surgical missions. A more profound gift is the fact that these people will become productive members of society again.
They can work again and give their families a brighter future – now that they got their lives back.*
