By DANNY O. SAGUN
DAGUPAN City is fast becoming a favorite place for medical missions by U. S.-based Filipino groups — in only about a month’s time, four groups have come to the city.

The latest to undertake a medical mission here was the Philippine Medical Association of Greater St. Louis in Misouri which treated more than 2,000 patients for four days at the People’s Astrodome starting last Monday.

Two more are slated to arrive in the city, according to city information officer Ryan Ravanzo in an interview at the weekly Pantongtongan Tayo radio program of the Philippine Information Agency over Radyo ng Bayan DZMQ last Tuesday.

All city barangays were alloted slots for the medical and dental consultations and treatment aside from major operations which were handled at the Region 1 Medical Center, he said.

Walk-in patients even from other towns were also accommodated, he added.

The city is also benefitting from the benovolence of other groups. Also expected to arrive are officers of the United Pangasinanes of America, Inc. who would turn over some $65,000 for the construction of 30 housing units in the Bonuan area under the Gawad Kalinga program.

Ravanzo said it was the largest single donation for the city by native Pangasinenses now based abroad.

The show of goodwill by the various foreign groups, he said, came as a result of the visit October last year by Mayor Alipio Fernandez, Jr. to the US. Pledges of support poured in during those visits, he said. (DOS)