Among the third world countries, the Philippines is one of the few chosen by Cure International (CI) to benefit from its charity; and among the cities in the country, Davao City is the most fortunate host of CI’s specialty center, the Sacred Harvest Ministry.
A non-stock, non-profit American organization giving free medical and surgical services to children in third world countries, Cure International was founded by Scott and Sally Harrison who started its first hospital in Kenya in 1998.
The builder of 12 hospitals in developing countries, Cure International has performed surgery on some 48,000 children with disabilities, and has served more than 700,000 outpatients in the last ten years.
Cure surgeons have operated on 1,100 children to correct their cleft lips and palates and 1,500 children suffering from clubfoot in Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Ehtiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia.
Also, the staggering amount of medical equipment and supplies donated to Cure in the last ten years are valued at $35 million.
Several construction and expansion projects are ongoing in Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Honduras, Kenya, Egypt, Bethlehem and the United Arab Emirates.
In Davao City, Cure International will initiate groundbreaking on its 2.5 million-dollar project, the Sacred Harvest Ministry, located at Lanang across the Carmelite Monastery on January 18 at 4:00 p.m. Construction of the hospital will be completed in 18 to 24 months.
This children’s hospital will cater first to specifically indigent patients in Mindanao, according to Maria Corazon B. Reyes, authorized representative and consultant of Cure Philippines who was a guest Wednesday in the Club 888 Forum at The Marco Polo Davao.
“Only pediatric cases will be catered to, but we’ll not refuse adult patients in private cases,” Reyes said.
Half of the 30-bed capacity hospital will accommodate charity beneficiaries while the other half will be for outpatients, both children and adults. Reyes said the city will be given three years to use the fund (part of which was allotted for the construction of the building) to operate the hospital until it will be self-sustaining.
Revenue from outpatients’ payments will be used to give indigent patients free medical and surgical services. “This is called the sustainability method approach,” she said.
Only children
Its mission being “to transform lives of disabled children and their families in the developing world through medical and spiritual healing,” special hospitals/centers of Cure International cater only to children patients.
In Davao City alone, the children population was estimated at 565,365 based on the Davao City State of Children Report 2010. The number one cause of death in 2009 among infants and children under five years old was pneumonia, with 114 cases.
It is followed by congenital malformation, septicemia, diseases of the nervous system and dengue. Other leading causes of deaths were metabolic disorder, diarrhea and gastroenteritis, unknown causes, diseases of the heart—and drowning.
Reyes said Cure will handle all pediatric and orthopedic cases, severe and major, such as in the spine.
Not for emergency
Indigent patients must be screened first by social workers.
“We have to pre-screen them for their economic status, medical viabilities, rehabilitation after medication and for physical therapies,” Reyes said, adding that it is why the hospital cannot accept emergency cases. The same reason why it is also called specialty center because it “provides comprehensive quality care,” she added. Services include referral systems after medication and/or surgery for therapy and rehabilitation.
Through its satellite office, Cure gets in touch with the indigents through local government units, where screenings will be done to identify those who will be given free surgery.
Meanwhile, Reyes said the Sacred Harvest Ministry will not only serve as charity for indigent children, but also as the city’s eco-tourism attraction+. It will also provide employment for 70 positions, she added. [Lorie Ann A. Cascaro]
