60 Ormoc residents undergo major operations in Lucy's surgical mission

ORMOC CITY, Philippines – Sixty people with life-threatening conditions, including a man whose face and upper arm were deformed because of severe burns, got a new lease in life after they recently underwent surgery under the skillful hands of Filipino-American surgeons who were on a mission in this city sponsored by Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez.

The Filipino-American surgeons, including some volunteer nurses, are all members of the Society of Philippine Surgeons in America, which has been doing various missions in the country and South America for the past 18 years. The team’s next stop will be Mindoro.

This year, the team’s mission consisted of 72 members, including Dr. Owen Kho, president of the Philippine College of Plastic Surgeons, who personally did the reconstructive surgery on the burn patient.

During dinner on the third day of the mission held in Area 6 owned by Dr. Femia and Roland Tomaro, who themselves pitched in to the mission, the doctors heartily cheered at the update that they were able to do 60 major operations, 101 minor operations for “lumps and bumps,” 18 opthalmological procedures and cataract operations, and 200 dental extractions.

They also cheered Caren Torres-Rama, who was sporting a Band Aid on her head, after she had a minor bump on her forehead removed. Rama, who is the congresswoman’s sister, said their mother had long wanted to have the bump removed but she was afraid. However, she said she had confidence in the surgical team so much that she entrusted the operation to them.

Rama’s husband Vincent said this should show Torres-Gomez’s detractors that the “black propaganda” they were spreading that doctors in the mission were “bogus” was not true. He said people should know that the mission had the “best of the best” in their ranks.

Meanwhile, Torres-Gomez, who visited the three hospitals where the surgeries were held, said she was touched by some of the cases that the doctors encountered.

Torres-Gomez said she was also touched by the show of gratitude of the patients.