Doctors at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City gladly received medical equipment donated by the LDS Charities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Dr. Cymeer Go together with hospital director, Dr. Jerry Aquino, expressed appreciation for the brand new items composed of eye scanners, microscopes and other operating machines which can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with vision problems.
Present during the turnover ceremony were Elder and Sister Hardick, LDS Charities country managers. The Mabuhay Deseret Foundation which is a partner organization of LDS Charities led by its executive director, Emmanuel Hernandez, also graced the event. Together with them was Dr. Call, a Mormon volunteer, responsible for identifying areas in the Philippines that would need the equipment as well as in training doctors of its use.
As part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ vision treatment program, volunteer ophthalmologists assist medical care providers around the world with training and equipment to treat simple vision problems.
“The Church aims to help the less fortunate individuals who cannot afford the expensive eye operation and treatment. This is part of our mission to reach out to the poor,” reiterates Elder Hardick.
In response, Dr. Cymeer Go expressed his gratitude and said, “We are glad to have the equipment as we have a lot of patients from the municipalities of Cebu who need these.”
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For many years now, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been providing relief and development projects for humanitarian purposes in countries all over the world. Humanitarian service may include emergency response to natural disasters, such as an earthquake or a tsunami, or man-made disasters, such as the effects of war and famine. It may also be part of a longer-term effort to meet serious and more entrenched human needs, such as the need to alleviate disease.
The humanitarian services arm of the Church sponsors five ongoing global projects to help people become more self-reliant. Initiatives include neonatal resuscitation training, clean water projects, wheelchair distribution, vision treatment and measles vaccinations.
More than 161 million people in the world are visually impaired, of whom 124 million people have low vision and 37 million are blind. Up to 75% of all blindness is avoidable or treatable. The objective of the Church’s vision care program is to strengthen eye care services to the poor by supplying essential technical training, equipment, supplies, and organizational support to assist local eye care professionals and programs.
Using ophthalmologists who volunteer their time, the Church has assisted local eye care professionals and programs resulting in benefit to over 180,000 individuals since 2003.
In 2009, the Church supported vision care projects in 23 countries, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
The Mabuhay Deseret Foundation, founded in 1988, is the largest surgical charity in the Philippines, performing over 3,000 free operations per year to correct medical conditions such as cataracts, crossed eyes, cleft lip and palette, burn contractions, post polio and club feet for the poor.