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Philippines

Operation Blessing Holds Free Cataract Surgical Mission For Typhoon Survivors

To carry on with its mission of transforming lives, Operation Blessing Foundation Philippines, in partnership with the Visayas Chapter of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology and Western Visayas Medical Center, held a Cataract Surgical Mission on recently in Iloilo.

Fourteen patients from Barangays Sara and Sta. Barbara, which were among the communities badly devastated by super typhoon Yolanda, were brought to the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao, Iloilo City, for the free medical procedure performed by 15 volunteer ophthalmologists. The Blindness Prevention and Control Program of the Iloilo Provincial Health Office assisted in screening the cataract patients

This was only the first of a series of eye surgical missions in Panay Island in support of Vision 20/20, one of the banner programs of the Department of Health (DoH).

This special medical mission was made possible through the generous support of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN ) which donated an eye surgery trailer and surgical-related equipment and supplies used during the free cataract surgical mission. In a letter, Director of Humanitarian Operations and Relief Ron Oates stated that CBN, together with other humanitarian-minded individuals and corporations, was privileged to share these much-need medical support with the people of the Philippines, through Operation Blessing.