110 poor Sulu villagers undergo free surgical procedures

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Surgeons provided free surgical services to 110 individuals, including women with breast masses and children with cleft lips, during a five-day medical mission in Sulu conducted by a team from the Bangsamoro regional government.

Officials of the Integrated Provincial Health Office-Sulu told reporters on Tuesday, August 19, that the beneficiaries of the August 11 to 15 medical mission of the Ministry of Health–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao were marginalized villagers from across the province.

A team of 11 physicians and 13 nurses, led by BARMM Health Minister Kadil Sinolinding Jr., together with counterparts in the IPHO-Sulu, facilitated the medical mission.

Sinolinding said on Tuesday that their chief minister, Abdulrauf Macacua, figurehead of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, strongly supported the activity.

“We are thankful to the officials of the Integrated Provincial Health Office in Sulu and the Sulu Provincial Hospital for their role in making the medical mission a big success,” said Sinolinding, an ophthalmologist who also serves as a member of the BARMM parliament.

Physicians and nurses in IPHO-Sulu told reporters that the beneficiaries included Tausugs from Jolo and nearby towns who had hernia, ovarian cysts, gallstones, parotid masses, as well as preschool children with cleft lips.

Among them were two Tausug men: Aljundi Tahil from Panamao, who underwent thyroidectomy, and Munib Sansahali from Paglima Estino, who had a submandibular mass successfully removed.

“I am grateful to the Bangsamoro government for the free treatment I underwent, done by doctors from the Bangsamoro regional capitol in Cotabato City,” Tahil said in Filipino, in a heavy Tausug accent.

Sansahali said he and his relatives in Panglima Estino will never forget the free, delicate surgery performed through the efforts of the MoH-BARMM.

All the surgical procedures were done at the Sulu Provincial Hospital in Jolo, the capital of Sulu.