• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Children born with clubfoot in Bacolod City and Negros can be treated for free at Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital and at Teodorico H. Pacaldo Orthopedic Clinic at Riverside Medical Center, officials from the Philippine NGO Council on Population, Health and Welfare (PNGOC) said.
PNGOC executive director Chi Laigo Vallido and M|E and program officer Jenny Oblema, in a press briefing June 17 in Bacolod, said the CLMMRH and the MAB-RMC Clubfoot Clinic are among the 36 partner clinics and hospitals in the Philippines that treat clubfoot for free.
Around 200 children with clubfoot in Negros are current availing of the free treatment, and Vallido called on other parents and guardians of kids with this lower-limb deformity to also take advantage of the program.
She said that, in the Philippines, “five babies are born with clubfoot every day, and more than 95 percent of cases can be corrected if treated on time through a series of clinical processes.”
Vallido stressed the importance of completing the treatment, as the possibility of relapse of this debilitating condition is also high. She noted a high incidence of noncompletion due to financial constraints of parents and the distance from home to the hospital or clinic. “Maraming cases ng hindi bumabalik to continue the treatment, so bumabalik din ang sakit.”
She called on local government units to help raise awareness on the need to complete the treatment. “Through the support of MiracleFeet, a foundation based in North Carolina, USA, our NGO is able to provide support to 36 partner-clinics and hospitals all over the country in order to treat clubfoot for free”. | CGC
