IPs in Ampatuan get medical services

COTABATO CITY – More than 1,000 Indigenous Peoples
in a remote village in Barangay Kauran, Ampatuan, Maguindanao have availed of
medical dental services from the provincial government of Maguindanao, officials
said today.
Lynette Estandarte, Maguindanao health focal person,
led the medical outreach program that benefited Teduday IP communities in the
hinterlands of Ampatuan town.
The beneficiaries were from Sitio Rizal who availed of
free consultation, dental services and received vitamins and other services
that were carried out in partnership with the Army’s 601st Infantry
Brigade.Edeng Rendah, a Teduray villager, said it was the first
time that she and her family availed of medical package from the government.
”It was only now that we have this massive health
programs in our poor community,” Rendah said in Filipino.
Kedaw Sisil, another villager, could hardly find words
that described how appreciative the villagers were after the medical outreach
program.
Estandarte said most of the children served by medical
practitioners have been suffering from respiratory diseases and many were
malnourished.
The year-round medical outreach projects of Maguindanao
provincial government have already served more than 31,000 residents of
Maguindanao’s 36 municipalities.
Estandarte said the program is part of Gov.
Esmael Mangudadatu’s Totong Serbisyo para sa Bayan.”