Medical mission from Hawaii to serve in Luzon sites

A previous Ohana Medical Mission in the Philippines. INQUIRER FILE

HONOLULU — Members and volunteers of the Ohana Medical Mission are getting ready to leave for the mission’s tenth sortie in the Philippines, in select areas of Luzon, from Dec. 10 to 24.

Mission destinations include Los Baños, Liliw and Nagcarlan (near the foothills of Mount Makiling in Laguna province); the fishing city of Navotas (north of Manila); Bagong Silang, a barangay of Caloocan near Metro Manila; Camiling (Tarlac); Paniqui (Tarlac) and Baguio City.

Many of the people who will be helped are the poorest of the poor, including squatters who eke out a living in slums and dumpsites. This year’s mission is bigger than ever will be covering more areas to treat 2,000 more patients than previous missions, or 10,000.

According to an Ohana officer, preparing this year’s mission has been more challenging due to new regulations required by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, which wants to track the work of foreign medical missions as well as the personnel that come on them.

Treatments will be provided for common medical problems of children such as malnutrition, parasitism, respiratory tract infections, dermatosis, primary complex and other gastrointestinal ailments.

For adults, problems typically include hypertension, arthritis, colds/asthma, dermatitis, migraine, diabetes and arthritis. This year’s mission will offer optometry, dental and psychiatric services.