The anecdote of the porridge and the Malasakit Center

Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) Malasakit Center serves as a one-stop shop for those needing assistance

Ironman registration reached 2,200 so far I think and we might exceed that until 2,800. Sunrise Events is putting a ceiling of 3,000. MIKEY APORTADERA officer-incharge Sports Development Division of the City Mayor’s Office

Sometime in 2007, I was duty-bound to assist a family friend to track down with the police a reprehensible person who seeks shelter in his relatives in Binugao, Toril after an aberrant in Surigao del Sur. The wanted person failed to turn over to the authorities a retrieved riffle grenade from the encounter site between the NPAs and the government troops in an obscure barangay of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.

The innocent man, who appreciated the weight, utilized the riffle grenade as hammer to chisel-maw a pestle. After few strikes, the grenade exploded and the splinters hit the boy in different key parts of the body prompting the father, my friend to bring his son to Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) here Davao.

While waiting to be attended at the ER, the worried father bought porridge outside of the hospital if only to warm the stomach of his son from a long travel. I was disturbed seeing the porridge in transparent cellophane that looks similar to a barf of his son while they were on the bus.

Anyway, forget the porridge. What bothers me most was how this friend, who is a farmer from a nearby province, could afford the medicines and pay the hospital bills.

Unlike before, today the SPMC has the Malasakit Center. Within the center are six agencies — the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, PhilHealth and the city government, so that those needing assistance can have a one-stop yard.

Davao Malasakit Center is the 12th Malasakit Center in the country, opened to serve the public since September 24, 2018. It is located inside the compound of the Department of Health (DoH)-11 across the SPMC.