Many poor people with benign cysts and warts endured discomforts caused by their condition for many years because they could not afford the cost of expensive surgery to remove it and the medicine for healing after the procedure.

Former jeepney driver Reynaldo dela Cruz, 42, had been dealing with a cyst in his nape since the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic hardship during the lockdowns forced him to sell the jeepney that served as his primary source of income. Dela Cruz also had to defer his treatment as the money was used for the care of his then pregnant wife and for the birth of their first child.

Emar Platero, 42, had been living with a large cyst located between his buttocks for two decades already. As a printing worker that requires him to stand and constantly move for almost the entire day, it was very discomforting and sometimes painful. When he tried to remove it with a thread, the problem only worsened and the lump grew even larger.

The ordeal of the two men from Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City finally ended when volunteer doctors from the Tzu Chi Eye Center in Manila finally operated on them for free last 15 March.

Dr. Robert Sy, vice president of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation Philippines (BTCMFP) that established and runs the TCEC, together with fellow general surgeons Dr. Timothy Yu, Dr. Alejandro Tan and Dr. Anthony Lim, simultaneously operated on a total 18 patients from Tatalon, freeing them from years of suffering from benign cysts and warts. Medicines were also provided to ensure their recovery.

The doctors met similar patients during the pandemic, when Sy and his team treated them in a makeshift operating area of TCEC to help with the limited healthcare services at the time. Patients were identified through the efforts of Tatalon Tzu Chi volunteers who conducted the surveys and met the patients who have been unable to afford checkups, surgeries and laboratory tests due to financial constraint.

“I am happy because they [patients] gave me the opportunity to gain merit in heaven. I hope we can find ways to continue carrying out these operations to help others,” Sy said, according to BTCMFP.

“The most important thing is helping these poor people, because we know many of them can’t afford hospital care — it’s quite expensive! Even for a small mass, the price is always fixed. So, whether it’s big or small doesn’t matter. What truly matters is that we’re given the opportunity to help- with that we are also privileged as well,” Yu said.

With Jam Digo/TCMFP