PCSO seeks record on largest medical mission

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CABANATUAN CITY: How large is the number of Filipinos longing for free medical assistance? This is the question the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) would answer when it pursues its aim to set a world record for the biggest single-day medical mission on September 8. The plan was disclosed by PCSO Chairman Sergio Valencia as the government’s lottery arm launched a series of medical missions called “Kaibigan ng PCSO” for Nueva Ecija over the weekend. Valencia said the PCSO eyes to break into the Guinness Book of World Records by earmarking a huge amount of P700 million for medicines alone. The medical mission will be held simultaneously in all of the country’s 42,000 barangays on September 8, coinciding with the agency’s 75th anniversary, according to Valencia. “We hope to land in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most number of participants in this medical mission,” he said, adding that the PCSO will tap volunteer doctors and nurses as well as local government units, Boy Scouts, Lions Club, the Philippine Army, the Philippine Navy and other concerned sectors in the undertaking. He said the barangays in major municipalities would be clustered for the medical mission, particularly in areas where the PCSO maintains provincial district offices. Valencia, along with PCSO Directors Jose Taruc 5th and Raymundo Roquero and other agency officials, kicked off the PCSO caravan in Nueva Ecija and launched the “Kaibigan ng PCSO” program to reach out to the marginalized members of society who need quality medical assistance. Meanwhile, Taruc, a son of the seasoned broadcaster Joe Taruc, said the charity through its Gapan City-based Provincial District Office has been extending medical support to Novo Ecijanos.  The services, he said, has been intensified as PCSO recorded dramatic increase in revenue.  The two-day caravan, which ended Monday, was highlighted by a series of press conferences, medical and dental missions. --Armand M. Galang

The Manila Times, Saturday, August 15, 2009