MEDICAL, SOCIAL SERVICES
Opapp, kidney institute, German doctors lead medical, dental, and social healing mission in lumad community where a thousand Matigsalug members availed.
Around a thousand members of the Matigsalug tribe gathered at a local infirmary here recently to avail themselves of free health and social services offered by government and private sector institutions.
The medical, dental, and social healing mission was a joint undertaking of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp), National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI), and the Buda Community Healthcare Center-Committee of German Doctors.
Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza said the activity was line with the national government and private sector's efforts to provide much-needed medical and psycho-social services to Mindanao's indigenous peoples (IPs).
“This is our way of reaching out to the IP community. We would like to make them feel they have not been forgotten and are now a priority of the government,” Dureza said.
He noted that a majority of Mindanao's IPs live in far-flung, underdeveloped communities. As a result, their access to health and social services have been limited.
He said this is the reason the national government's programs aim to promote the principles of greater inclusivity and participation, especially among the vulnerable and underprivileged sectors such as the Lumad. /
“This is our way of reaching out to the IP community. We would like to make them feel they have not been forgotten and are now a priority of the government” JESUS DUREZA Presidential Peace Adviser