Our Story
10 million children die annually due to inaccessible medical services.
-- Save The Children Global Report
The concept of a mobile clinic that navigates between villages separated by bodies of water came not as a vision but as a necessity. Its founder, Dr. German Agravante, on his internship prior to his completion of his medical studies, was assigned at the biggest public hospital catering to the needs of patients coming from six provinces and seven cities in the Bicol Region. The sheer volume of patients, in contrast to the number of medical personnel and available supplies and facilities of the center, translates to a service delivery dilemma facing overstretched yet underbudgeted medical institutions.
His exposures to various cases presented in the emergency rooms and open wards at this hospital pointed to a major conundrum: why would most patients from remote villages come in as a last resort for a supposedly preventable condition? The prime reason: most of the areas where these patients live are where medical help is unheard of and only faith healers abound to fill in the vacuum. Their afflictions--usually started as benign, easily curable conditions--were made worse by neglect and the true reality of poverty. Some islands, in fact, necessitate a few boat rides to get to the nearest local health facility, making it geographically and financially impossible to seek immediate help.
This leads to this lingering thought: “What if these patients get to see a doctor regularly in their local communities and get diagnosed early; would they still be here fighting off complications and scrounging on the limited resources the overcrowded hospitals offer?”
Armed with a firm resolve to engender change, Dr. Agravante, in 2017, purchased a second hand eight-meter outrigger boat, powered by a 15-horsepower diesel engine, large enough to carry up to 10 volunteers and three boxes of assorted medicines donated by physician-friends. His team consists of colleagues and friends who also want to devote their free day away from their busy city schedule to take up the challenge in making a difference in the lives of impoverished island dwellers.
Halted and yet undeterred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Floating Clinic continues to strive to attain higher goals and reach farther destinations. In 2022, a 16-meter boat was constructed to house a full clinic setup, complete with a laboratory for blood tests, a spacious consultation room to accommodate four physicians and their patients at one time and an area for uncomplicated outpatient surgeries. In May 2023, a much-needed grant from the Rotary Club of District 3740 of Seoul, South Korea made possible the completion of the boat structure, enabling the launch of the only Floating Clinic in the Philippines in the humble village of Namantao, Cagraray Island, serving its initial 362 patients in one day.
The missions, all run by volunteers, have been dependent on the generosity of friends who selflessly share their resources to provide medicines, food and supplies needed in every mission. This project, started as a wild "what if" idea, now serves thousands of otherwise forgotten people. It proudly stands as a testament to the selfless drive of local health professionals and benefactors to change the healthcare landscape in Albay for the better: one remote island village at a time.
