Go helps young boy with leukemia

FOR months, Edgar and Jocelle Montes had been worrying about their son Jomel, Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran, Bohol, for leukemia.

Edgar can barely make ends meet as a coconut gatherer, so the boy’s continued stay in the hospital was an added burden the family could not afford.

Fortunately, a concerned citizen posted Jomel’s condition on Facebook and it went viral.

Once it reached Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, the attention that they needed.

Go immediately instructed the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) to provide assistance, facilitated the boy’s transfer from Bohol to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Center in Cebu.

Once there, the Malasakit Center assessed his condition and endorsed him to doctors with the assurance that the family would not have to pay for the treatment needed.

Go visited Jomel when he was in Cebu on Tuesday to accompany President Rodrigo Duterte to the meeting of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines.

He told Jomel to pray and get well.

Go assured the family that the government would take care of his medical needs, gave the family cash assistance and gifted Jomel with a mobile phone to keep him occupied while undergoing treatment.

He also promised to send Jomel to school once he is well.

Go was instrumental in putting up Malasakit Centers in Tacloban City ( Leyte), Iloilo and Cebu.

He said the centers are onestop shops that guide patients to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, PhilHealth, Department of Health, and Philippine Charity medical bills would be reduced.

Go announced that he plans to add more Malasakit Centers, particularly in Mindanao.