TİKA Provided Biomedical Equipment to Medical Brigades in Colombia

In order to benefit vulnerable population in hard-to-reach areas, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) donated biomedical items to medical brigades led by Colombian Civil Air Patrol.

The Colombian Civil Area Patrol – PAC is a private non-profit organization, which through its medical brigade programs has hovered to the most remote places of the country, in order to provide free medical and surgical care to people living in conditions extreme poverty, social or geographic exclusion.

These brigades are supported by volunteers, pilots and health professionals who donate their time to improve the quality of life of thousands of people who live in municipalities with difficult geographic access, and who do not have access to specialized medical services.

In the long term, the objective of the project is to benefit 1,500 people annually with medical optometry and nutrition services, reason why, among the donated items, is the Portable Lensmeter, used mainly by optometrists to verify the correct prescription of glasses; Portable Slit Lamp, which facilitates an eye examination; Tonometer, Optometry case, Lens case, Occlusor, a Cryotherapy thermos, Prism box, among others.

Pamela Estrada Ocampo, General Director of the Colombian Civil Air Patrol, highlighted that TİKA’s donation has made it possible to strengthen nutrition programs for children under 5 years of age; of dermatology and visual health. “Thanks to TİKA, we have new equipment that will allow us to serve a greater number of people in optometry and provide new services in ophthalmology. We also have new elements to carry out procedures in dermatology and equipment to make a more accurate diagnosis of child malnutrition”.

On the other hand, during one of the brigades where the donation made was used, one of the volunteers, Dr. Wilson Galvis, a dermatologist, used the cryotherapy thermos in order to prevent malignant skin lesions in an elderly patient who had not been able to access a specialized dermatological consultation. “Thanks to the cooperation of the Turkish Agency TİKA and the donation they made us of this thermos, we can treat these types of injuries in remote areas of the country and thus prevent them from turning into skin cancer”