DSWD, DOH conduct outreach programs

16 November 2009

Bongo Island, Parang, Maguindanao – Various agencies of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) led by the Department of Social Welfare and Development of the (DSWD-ARMM) and the Department of Health (DOH-ARMM) have been conducting series of outreach programs here for the underprivileged people in the far-flung villages of the province.
The outreach programs include medical mission like “operation tuli” or circumcision, free medical check-up and consultation and awarding of cash loan assistance of P5,000 each for the Self-Employment Assistance – Kaunlaran program or SEA-K to twenty-five (25)individuals from Barangay Tagudtungan in the island of Bongo on Saturday, November 14, 2009.
ARMM social welfare Secretary Bai Soraida Biruar said the SEA-K is a livelihood program of DSWD in a form of loan that intends to help provide financial assistance as capital seed fund to the marginalized communities in the entire region in order for them to start a business as source of their income.
The SEA-K is part of the Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP) of the national government to help mitigate hunger in the country, Biruar added.
Dra. Elizabeth Samama, the Provincial Health Officer (IPHO) of Maguindanao province who led the team of medical doctors and nurses, disclosed that about seven-hundred (700) individuals had been given medical attention and free medicines including operation tuli.
Samama said that aside from the Internally Displaced Persons in the different evacuations centers in the province, Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) Maguindanao has been engaging in various medical outreach programs to serve the poor and depressed communities especially in the remotest areas of the province.
ARMM Regional Governor Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan stressed during his State of the Region Address (SORA) recently that basic social services such as Health, nutrition, education, infrastructure and other significant development projects are among the major program thrusts of his administration.