Help for our Filipino colleagues

On November 8, Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines resulting in widespread devastation and destruction. One of the worst hit towns, Tacloban is the home of our well known colleague Aileen Espina  and was host to the 2011 WONCA rural health conference. Aileen is featured as the author of this month's WONCA rural round up. The WONCA family was overjoyed to hear that Aileen is safe and has evacuated her children to Manila. Aileen has returned to Tacloban to work in the devastation.

However, many colleagues from around the world have asked how they can help Aileen and others like her, with the long and slow process of rebuilding. A quick look at any news website will show the degree of devastation is enormous and rebuilding will be slow. There are two ways to donate to help our Filipino colleagues (see below):

PAFP fund

The Philippine Academy of Family Physicians' president, Christine S Tinio MD, has just announced a fund established to assist colleagues in need and international donations can be accepted. Christine's letter is below.

Dear Colleagues

I am writing this letter to update you regarding the PAFP's plan to give assistance to victims of the recent disasters here in the Philippines.

In the last PAFP board meeting on November 15, 2013, the board created a task force to plan activities in assisting our member doctors who are victims of the typhoon and/or give assistance to various chapters in conducting activities to victims of the typhoon. The board decided then that we will help rebuild communities and plan for other long term activities for the victims like help provide facilities and medical services in areas hit by typhoons.

At the moment, we are gathering data as to which chapters or members are affected. So far from the Iloilo chapter three or four of our members have reported that their houses were badly damaged, in the Antique area , Dr Rubinos, the Chapter President, said that so far there are no members affected but as a chapter they started doing medical missions and donated money to some of the victims to repair their homes. They communicated with me asking for aid/cash donations. There are several residents in the small islands and two of our chapter presidents in the Visayas signified intention of helping them. Other chapters in the Visayan region have also started helping out or volunteering for medical missions. Here in Metro Manila we (our FM residents from the De la Salle Univ Medical Center) volunteered to provide medical services to evacuees at the Villamor Air base.

The plan is to raise funds and we tasked the various Chapter presidents to send us pictures of the affected areas and present to us their plans for assistance. The task force delegated the task to the chapter presidents because they believe that the chapter president would know the needs of that certain area. The funds that would be raised will be used for these projects/activities.

Yesterday, November 22, 2013, we the fund raising project, "ONE PAFP, ONE FAMILY ...Families help each other".

Cash donations can be deposited in this account:

Eastwest Bank
Taft Avenue Store Ground Floor 2244 PAFP Bldg Taft Avenue Manila 1004:

Account name: Philippine Academy of Family Physicians

Account no: 19301-00101-3
For International Donors: Bank swift code: EWBCPHMM
If from Singapore remittance can be thru I-Remit.

This is all for now.
Thank you and warm regards,
Christine S. Tinio (picture courtesy of PAFP)
President PAFP


OnTHEnet one can make a donations specifically to the Leyte clinical school in Tacloban
Ian Couper reprots that he has used it and it works well. One can use a range of credit cards easily.
The page link is:
http://thenetcommunity.org/please-pledge-your-support-to-staff-faculty-and-students-of-manila-school-of-health-sciences-philippines/
Otherwise go to http://thenetcommunity.org/,
scroll to the news story on Leyte and click on “Read More”
You will find a box that says “Donate Now”;
pledge your amount and click.