Helping the Fatimas in our communities

TVIRD holds medical missions in Muslim communities

Nur Sala, 25, is a Muslim who was born and raised in Barangay
Sta. Maria, a coastal barangay in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, that is home
to more than 2,000 Muslims from the Maguindanao and Kolibogan (Muslim-Subanon
mix) tribes. He and his wife Sabtulla have three children. The youngest, Fatima,
just 1 year and 10 months, has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a disease
she suffers as a result of her TB-meningitis or tuberculosis of the brain. She
just underwent surgery – a procedure called shunting to divert excess
fluid from her brain – last November.

Fatima was among the 720 patients from Siocon’s multi-cultural
population who were recently given free medical and dental care through the
medical missions sponsored by TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD)
in Sta. Maria and nearby Matiag. TVIRD’s Community Relations and Development
Office (CReDO) spearheaded the missions in cooperation with Acting Siocon Mayor
Ceasar Soriano, the Provincial Government of Zamboanga del Norte, the Philippine
Army’s 44th and 18th Infantry Battalions, as well as the Philippine National
Police’s 903rd Provincial Mobile Group and Regional Mobile Group led by
Senior Inspector Jimlani Kiran.

TVIRD is preparing for its first shipment of copper concentrates,
from a warehouse in the Sta. Maria Port, which were mined and processed in Canatuan,
a remote Subanon indigenous tribal village in the mountainous eastern portion
of Siocon.

At the Sta. Maria mission, Fatima caught the attention of Feliece
Yeban, TVIRD vice president for Social Commitments. Yeban asked one of her staff
members to give priority to Fatima so she could be examined immediately. Unfortunately,
the mission did not have the special medicines that Fatima needed. But it did
identify her special situation, which will help the company find ways of following
up.

“TVIRD will do whatever it can to extend help to Fatima so that she can
be given the proper medical attention she needs,” Yeban adds.

“Medical missions like this are much-needed in many far-flung rural communities
in the Philippines,” Yeban says. “That is why we thought of conducting
this activity in our impact communities, where children like Fatima are badly
in need of medical care. However, we cannot bring all of the medicines for different
kinds of illnesses. What we do bring for all our missions is the sincere commitment
to help in our own small way our less-fortunate brothers and sisters who live
in and around our area of operations.”

“The medical mission is a labor of love,” Capt.
Luther Resuello of the 44th Infantry Battalion points out. “We are assisting
TVIRD because this undertaking benefits many of our people in Siocon and the
neighboring municipalities. The Philippine Army is happy to be of service to
our people. This is why we immediately decided to assist the company when CReDO’s
Noelle Nazareno sought our help in this activity. We are here to not only to
provide security, but also provide additional manpower to the medical team.
The Army will always be ready to help in similar activities in the future.”

In Matiag, Muslim residents in the area and nearby villages
came in pump boats to avail themselves of the services of doctors and dentists
brought in by TVIRD and the Army. For their part, the company’s security
personnel joined soldiers in giving free haircuts to children and adults. The
residents were also treated with traditional medicine, such as acupressure,
acupuncture, and ventosa, even as pregnant women received prenatal care from
midwives.

“My constituents are grateful for this medical mission,”
Matiag Barangay Chair Pinsiaw Salam says. “This is only the third time
a medical mission has been conducted in our village since its creation in 1973.
The last time we were visited by doctors was in 2007.”

The Sta. Maria and Matiag medical missions are part of a series
of outreach programs TVIRD has lined up this year. The missions are a component
of the company’s initiatives on Health and Sanitation which, in turn,
are a part of TVIRD’s Quadrants of Development – projects on basic
social services that the company focuses on in its efforts to bring development
to residents in communities surrounding its mining operations. The other Quadrant
components are Responsive Education, Sustainable Livelihood, and Infrastructure.

“Another upcoming endeavor will conduct capacity-building
training sessions for tribal leaders, and the women and youth organizations
in Canatuan,” Thess Limpin, CReDO manager, reveals.

Adjira Jimlan, 60, a resident of Sta. Maria said she was deeply
touched of by the efforts of the company to help the poor residents of her village:
“I was listening to the short speech of the lady (Yeban). She said TVI
is committed to practice responsible mining and would always be a friend and
partner of Siocon and Sta. Maria. I believe her.”

Jimlan, who is hypertensive and has arthritis, says her village
is in dire need of a medical practitioner who will stay permanently in her village.
“We have to spend at least P50 per person just to go to the town center
to visit the doctor. That is the regular fare we have to pay when we ride the
habal-habal (motorcycle).”

Sta. Maria Barangay Chair Muarip Salvador also lamented lack
of doctors in his town. “Siocon has only two doctors to attend to the
medical needs of the municipality’s nearly 40,000 residents. While the
two doctors are trying their best, one of them is assigned at Siocon District
Hospital and also has to take care of the medical needs of the people from our
neighboring towns of Sirawai, Baliguian and Sibuco.”

Of the 720 patients treated during the medical missions, 65
underwent tooth extraction, while 131 children were given a glass of milk as
part of the provincial government’s program against malnutrition. Some
93 of the patients were children who were treated for scabies. Sta. Maria residents
were also given information on Filariasis prevention by TVIRD resident nurse
Lois Esnani.

“I believe the medical missions are an eye opener, especially
to those who are deeply involved in them,” Salvador adds. “Sta.
Maria is poor. We have many Fatimas who need help. But the good thing is we
now know that we are not alone. We have friends to turn to when the sea gets
rough.” (Lullie Micabalo)