[Kukmin Ilbo] [On-the-Ground Report: Good People’s Southeast Asia Medical Mission, Part 1] Patients Say,

“Salamat, Jesus”(Thank You, Jesus) After Surgery

By Eom Gi-young in Manila
Published: March 6, 2005, at 6:42 p.m.
Last updated: March 6, 2005, at 6:42 p.m.

The Good People medical team performs cataract surgery on Filipino patients at Rafa Medical Center in Caloocan City, Metro Manila, on March 6. Photo by Eom Gi-young in Manila.

“Salamat, Jesus! Thank You, Lord!”

At 2 p.m. local time on March 6, more than 100 Filipino patients filled the area outside the operating room and extended down the corridor at Rafa Medical Center in Caloocan City, Metro Manila.

Ulal Irla, 62, was the first patient to emerge after completing cataract surgery. Irla had suffered from a cataract in the left eye since the age of 15 and had lived with that eye closed for the previous five years.

“A burden I carried for decades has finally been lifted,” Irla said with a bright smile. “I thank God for giving me back the light of sight.”

Corazon Bilome, a 74-year-old woman who traveled for three hours by bus with her granddaughter, said,

“I have suffered from cataracts for the past ten years, but because I live in a rural area, I had never visited a hospital.”

“Now I will be able to read the Bible much more comfortably,” she added, expressing her joy like a child.

On the first day of a medical outreach program organized by Good People, an international development NGO chaired by the Rev.

Cho Yong-gi, patients and their families consistently gave thanks to God for the restoration of their sight.

The program was organized to provide cataract surgery to 120 low-income patients in the Philippines.

Good People’s World Blindness Prevention Team, led by Lee Do-jae, was scheduled to provide charitable medical care from March 6 to 9.

The medical outreach was conducted as part of the World Blindness Prevention Team’s “Magpie Project.”

The project was created to repay the kindness of the 1,400 Filipino soldiers who fought to support South Korea during the Korean War. Under the initiative, the team planned to restore sight to 1,400 Filipino cataract patients over the following ten years.

Team leader Lee Do-jae said,

“We cannot bring back the lives of the Filipino soldiers, but we came here to give the light of sight back to the Filipino people.”

He added, “We plan to conduct medical missions five times each year in Asian countries, including the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Bangladesh, and provide free surgery to approximately 450 cataract patients annually.”

For the previous three years, Good People had provided cataract surgery to approximately 200 patients annually in Asian countries. Beginning that year, the organization expanded its activities by formally launching the World Blindness Prevention Team.

Dr. Gyung Bai Choi, 46, of JC Bitsomang Eye Clinic, said,

“With only five to ten minutes of surgery and approximately 200,000 won in medical materials, we can help restore a person’s sight.”

“I feel the greatest sense of fulfillment when people who were blind open their eyes again and experience the grace of God,” he added.

Meanwhile, Good People was scheduled to hold an event on the afternoon of March 9 at the Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel in Manila to mark the fourth anniversary of its tuberculosis-control program in the Philippines.

Approximately 200 people were expected to attend, including the organization’s executives and Philippine lawmaker Zagala. Since 2001, Good People had provided tuberculosis medication and food to approximately 6,000 patients in the Philippines.

Good People was then scheduled to attend a dedication service on March 11 for the newly completed auditorium at Elim Secondary School in Surabaya, Indonesia, before returning to Korea on March 14.

Approximately 30 participants, including ten medical professionals such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists, as well as other volunteers, departed on an Asiana Airlines flight on the morning of March 5 to conduct medical mission work in the Philippines and Indonesia.

https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/viewDetail.asp?newsClusterNo=01100201.20050307100001599