LFP supports children with disabilities in Palawan
Greetings from Palawan, this is Liliane Mediator Cecilia Socrates. I am the Director of BAHATALA INC which has a rehabilitation program that serves the whole of Palawan (23 municipalities, some of which are in remote islands). Our program offers direct medical (including surgical) and rehabilitation services, a prosthetics/orthotics workshop, a community outreach program and a training program targeting frontline health workers (RHU doctors, midwives and nurses), and disabled people. Because of the nature and scope of our program we continuously come across children with disabling conditions, or children whose conditions will lead to disabilities if they do not get the necessary interventions.
In 2008 (December 2007- November 2008) Liliane Foundation Philippines (LFP) generously contributed Pesos 250,000 for direct financial assistance towards the various needs of children we encounter in our clinics as well as those referred to us by our contacts in the municipalities.
In our report of November 2008 (spanning 12 months), 57 children were assisted (24 old and 33 new). Epilepsy remains to be a big problem for parents of children with this condition, and will continue to be so as this condition is most often a lifetime one. Although LFP cannot attempt to comprehensively solve this problem, i.e. provide for the needs of all those afflicted, we have continued to help those whose parents and local governments have contributed towards a proportion of the costs of anti-epileptic medications. Twenty eight (20 old and 8 new) of the total number of children helped in this report have Epilepsy. They have all been assessed properly by a pediatrician or a neurologist and given appropriate prescriptions. Recently, BAHATALA has made an agreement with a national drugstore chain (Mercury) to ensure supply of drugs. It is significant to point out that in rural areas these drugs are often not available. Hence not only are we able to pay for the crucial drugs (the absence or withdrawal of which can have grave consequences), but we are also ensuring procurement (something that is usually taken for granted in the urban areas).
The second largest group of children (13 new) in this report were those with various eye problems, some threatening permanent loss of vision if left untreated. Most of these 14 children had corneal lacerations from all sorts of trauma to the eyes. Emergency operations by a qualified ophthalmologist were needed in most cases. It must be pointed out that these children often came from far-flung areas and traveling to the capital (Puerto Princesa) was a huge undertaking in itself. Apart from eye trauma, there were also cases of congenital eye anomalies: juvenile cataract, cross-eyed, eye mole and other anomalies, all needing surgery.
Another significant group of children were those born with other congenital anomalies, one with Hydrocephalus who needed to go to Manila, and 7 children born with Clubfeet who did not need to go to Manila because the services are right here in BAHATALA. Clubfeet treatment is a long-term process, not needing surgery if seen at a very early age (our youngest was one day old). BAHATALA has a resident orthopedic surgeon who has trained in the Ponsetti method of correcting clubfeet.