A Medical and Civic Action Program (MEDCAP) team of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) has treated hundreds of patients in conflict-ridden areas in the southern Philippines.(A refugee in central Mindanao in makeshift housing near a mosque)
The IMT’s MEDCAP team has provided treatment, free medicines and vitamins to around 700 patients mostly children, women and old folks from Barangays (villages) in Datu Saudi Ampatuan and in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province.
Major Genera Dato' Md Ismael bin Ahmad Khan, IMT head of mission, said they are now in full swing with their MEDCAP and gradually shifting their focus on humanitarian and socio-economic programs “so that the people will start to reap and enjoy the dividends of the peace process.”
He said the MEDCAP was implemented in coordination and cooperation with the Joint GRP- MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), and Local Government Units (LGUs).
“Common sickness that were diagnosed included body pains, abdominal pain, headache, colds, fever, cough, eye problems, hypertension and asthma,” said Dr. Amran, the Medical Officer of the IMT.
He said patients experiencing eye problems, particularly cataract, were advised to immediately see an ophthalmologist as they could not attend to them considering that the case involves surgical operation.
The physician promised to bring up to the Malaysian government the predicament of those patients experiencing eye problems, even as he called for other institutions and humanitarian organizations to help in attending to these cases involving eye problems.
Meanwhile, village leaders and elders in Maguindanao hailed the IMT, which composed of officers from the governments of Malaysia, Brunei, Libya and Japan, for the big contributions it is giving in the search for genuine and lasting peace and development in their war ravaged communities.
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