LUALHATI GREGORIO

Caring for the People

 

IT WAS DURING an exposure trip in Eastern Mindanao—in the summer month of April last year—that I met Ka Erning.  A young man in his 20s, Ka Erning was a tailor before he joined the New People’s Army.  But there was something else about him that was special: along with some other men and women of his age, he is a member of the NPA medical team, “doctors” who learned their skills not from expensive medical schools but through actual medical practice under comrades who had formal schooling in medicine.

Ka Erning’s skills as a potential paramedic was gleaned by his comrades who noticed the unusual dexterity of his fingers and the steadiness of his hands while sewing pants and jackets for the guerrillas.  Acting on a hunch, on  the possibility that the youth could carry out a more demanding task, they asked him if the wanted to take up training as a medical worker specializing in surgery.  Surgery?  Not just ordinary and his dread.  But in the end, with enough cajoling from his friends, he decided to try it out.  Pretty soon, Ka Erning the tailor was stitching up bullet wounds as expertly as pants and jackets.  They fighters brought more than just relief.  Sometimes, they saved lives.

I had the chance to see Ka Erning perform one of his operations when we heard about a poor peasant who was badly in need of medical help.  The barrio where the peasants lived was about two-and-a-half kilometers from the place where we camped so it was no trouble putting up the peasant Ka Dinoy in the medical teams long list of patients.

When we visited Ka Dinoy, we learned that he was suffering from the enlarged scrotum.  He and his relatives offered their own explanations for Ka Dinoy’s ailment but it was clear that he needed help immediately.  When Ka Erning  looked at his patients’ enlarged scrotum, it was a big as a pomelo.  There was no pain, Dinoy told his doctors but having endured his condition for the past 19 years, he could no longer think of postponing medical treatment since he could no longer walk or work.

The peasant said he had hoped to be operated on in the town hospital.  But when he was told that he would be needing P10,000 for his operation and other hospitalization expenses, he was stunned.  He  computed the additional costs he could incur for the board and lodging of his wife who would be looking after him while he recuperated.  He shook his head.  He could not afford it.  Why, he didn’t even have P1,000!

So it was with pure joy when Ka Dinoy heard about an NPA medical team that happened to be in his vicinity and was ready to give medical treatment at no cost.  The day before the medical operation, Ka Erning’s companions—Ka Lisa, a cheerful, young woman, and three other medical workers—prepared the material needed for the operation. Ka Dinoy, in the meantime, reinforced his kitchen table which would be used as the operating table.  He added supporting beams to make sure it would carry the patient’s weight and would not wobble or collapse.

The peasant family’s best mosquito net was washed and hung over the “operating table” to keep out flies and other insects.  Banana leaves were spread under the table to catch the bloodied gauze and cotton swabs.

By early morning of the day of the operation, Ka Dinoy took a bath and was laid down carefully on the table.  Amid reassurances from the NPA medical team, he was put on dextrose and injected with local anaesthesia. To make sure the patient felt no pain during the operation, acupuncture needles were inserted on him to temporarily deaden his nerves.

As the medical team stood around ka Dinoy, the mosquito net was drawn down around them.  Ka Erning acted as “chief surgeon” while Ka Lisa assisted him.  Ka Tino, another medical worker, served as a surgical nurse and handed to them the surgical instruments.  The other medical workers stood around outside the net and from time to time, Ka Erning would look up at them and point to certain parts of the human body.

A long incision was made on the outer skin of the scrotum, then on the second and third layers until the sac itself was exposed. A small cut was made on the sac which contained fluid.  The fluid was suctioned out and gathered in  plastic oil container.   When the full amount was dredged, the liquid came up to about two cupfulls.  The sac was then turned inside out, to make sure no fluid remained trapped inside.  The incisions were closed again, layer by layer.

Throughout the operation, Ka Erning and his co-workers would reassure Ka Dinoy.  Once, when the patient complained that the operation was getting too painful, Ka Lisa gave him another injection of anaesthesia.

Soon, the operation was over.  The medical team was served chicken with broth, a special meal cooked by the peasant’s family for the visitors.  Ka Dinoy’s wife, Ka Aning, their children and grandchildren who spoke little during the operation broke into smiles.

Relieved over Ka Dinoy’s operation, his family could now talk about other things with the NPA.  Of high land rents and of meager harvests.  Of oppression and violence inflicted on them.  They also wondered and became hopeful possibilities.  Of how and unschooled youth could perform surgery and of how much an army could care for the well-being of the people.