US troops go on medical mission in North Cotabato
By Edwin Fernandez
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 22:14:00 02/26/2008
MIDSAYAP, NORTH COTABATO – American troopers, armed with medical equipment, on Sunday entered the remote village of Kadigasan here and circumcised six Moro males.
“Residents here, all Muslims, have not seen a doctor since birth and the coming of RP-US Balikatan outreach program was warmly welcomed,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, told the Inquirer.
Ando said the village was far from the town centers where government and private hospitals were located. He pointed out that because the farmers were poor and the village isolated, they had never visited a doctor for their health concerns.
“They are more concerned with what to eat at the end of the day than having their health checked by physicians,” he said.
As to the six males, aged 40 years old and above, Ando said their delayed circumcision was “mainly due to poverty and unavailability of doctors to do the job.”
He said some of the male patients claimed that they were already circumcised but the procedure was improperly done. “They want the circumcision corrected so they came forward,” he said.
Kadigasan is accessible only by motorcycle or by horse. “Now medical services were brought to their doorstep,” Ando said.
He said armed conflict since the 1970s had prevented the poor Muslim population in far-flung villages from taking care of their health.
The RP-US medical services were brought to various villages in the area of responsibility of the 6th Infantry Division, said Army Maj. Gen. Reymundo Ferrer, 6th ID commanding general.
“This is purely an outreach program and no combat training as feared by militant groups opposed to the presence of US troops in mainland Mindanao,” Ando said.
“We should look at it (from) a bigger perspective and you will find how noble the project is.”
The local Army spokesperson also belied reports that US troopers selected villages near Maguindanao’s Liguasan marshland to check on possible oil and mineral deposits in the area.
“There’s no need to bring troops in disguise as medical workers to the area purposely for searching oil; the US has all the technology to do that even without us knowing it if indeed that was the motive,” Ando said.
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