The village of Kankintu in the Ngöbe-Bugle Indian Territory, can only be reached by a lengthy ride through the mountains, followed by a three-hour boat trip, and is part of the few remaining indigenous areas in Central America.
As with other basic resources, such as clean water and electricity, access to healthcare for this community is extremely limited.
The Bruyère-Panama Project is a grassroots initiative which has linked doctors and other healthcare staff from the Bruyère Family Medicine Centre in Ottawa with indigenous communities in Panama since 2005.
Project leader and family practitioner, Dr. Charles Czarnowski, and his team, were invited by Panamanian NGO Nutre Hogar to bring medicines and medical expertise to the community in 2009.
The team travelled to the remote area, and treated over 1,000 patients over their 12-day mission with medicines from the Physician Travel Pack (PTP) they brought with them from Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC).
“Eighty per cent of the patients have skin problems,” Dr. Czarnowski said. “Dermatitis, eczema and scabies can become infected if not treated.” The Vioform hydrocortisone cream, donated by Canadian pharmaceutical company, Paladin Labs, is the perfect type of medication to control these conditions, according to the doctor.
A baby’s suffering ends
At the clinic the team worked from, a couple in their teens brought their months-old baby fully covered in scabs. Dr. Czarnowski recounts, “The baby didn't have any square centimetre of normal skin.”
Vioform hydrocortisone cream was used to control the infant's condition, and five days later she was fine. “I believe she was constantly suffering and would have eventually died from systemic infection,” Dr. Czarnowski stated.
Dr. Steven Ballou, who was also on the mission, said, “These life saving medications make such a difference in the day to day lives of these worthy people.”
In recognition of his dedication in providing medical care to the country's indigenous population, Dr. Czarnowski was invested in the Order of Panama in 2008.
To date, Paladin Labs has donated $2.5 million worth of medicines for the developing world through HPIC.
“To save a life, is to save the world. That is our industry's business and one we take seriously at Paladin,” says Jonathan Ross Goodman, President and CEO of Paladin. “We all have an obligation from our privileged and blessed life in Canada, to help to the best of our abilities, those less fortunate than us. We applaud HPIC for getting the right medicines in the right place and the right time to save the world, one life at a time.”
