ANGELES CITY- The poor in this city would never even imagine having celebrity beauty expert Dr. Vicky Belo improve their looks, knowing how costly that could be for anyone grappling daily with sheer survival.
But now, residents like Elenita Cortes, 40, are having their ugly warts and moles removed, either for fear they’d develop into cancers or simply because removal would enhance good looks or both.
And they need not even fork out a centavo for this, as it’s all gratis et amore, courtesy of the city government’s “Medikalinga” program.
The program is based in a rehabilitated building of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines in Barangay Sto. Domingo here and offers totally free minor surgeries, mostly on moles, warts and cysts every Friday.
The building is now referred to as the MediKalinga Center.
“I have always wanted this mole on my nose removed because it’s ugly,” Cortes said. After a while, she hastened to add that her mole had also been growing and could be dangerous.
“This place fills up with hundreds of people as early as 6 a.m. every Friday,” said Alex Cauguiran, chief of staff of Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan.
Cauguiran said that health worker volunteers in all 33 barangay here spend Monday to Thursday informing local folk about the MediKalinga program and list up those who think they might need some surgery.
“Many who have moles and warts on the face come. At times I suspect they just want to look more beautiful, but then that’s okay since we know that wayward warts and moles ought to be medically treated,” he noted.
“In such cases, it’s like having a free Vicky Belo treatment. And it’s all for free, “ he added in jest. He could not immediately say how much budget the city government spends for the program, but added a bulk of the cost are from donations.
Cauguiran said that at least seven volunteer doctors attend to the patients, assisted by about 20 nurses pulled out from health centers on Fridays.
“Medikalinga doctors provide free surgical services for the removal of sebaceous cysts, lymphoma cysts, tendon cysts, abscesses, warts and even small breast masses, among others such abnormalities,” he added.
Cauguiran also noted that patients whose ailments turn out to be needing of major surgeries are referred to the Ospital ning Angeles (ONA), which is also operated by the city government. “There, they also receive free treatment,” he added.
Pamintuan said the establishment of the Medikalinga center was part of his commitment to provide free medical assistance to as many poor families as possible.
Earlier, Pamintuan also initiated the improvement of the ONA by establishing there a renal care unit with 19 dialysis machines. Kidney patients from poor families pay only P900 for dialysis.
