15 December 2015 - Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Catalino R. Dilem, Jr., as current chair of the ASEAN Committee in Mexico City (ACMC), led the ACMC in a charitable donation to a Mexican children’s hospital.

The five members of the ACMC made a donation of 10 wheelchairs to the Federico Gomez Children’s Hospital in Mexico City. The December 08 event was attended by hospital officials, members of the ASEAN embassies, and press representatives. The ACMC members in attendance included Ambassador Dilem; Indonesian Ambassador Yusra Khan; Vietnamese Ambassador Le Linh Lan; Thai Ambassador Surasak Chuasukonthip; and Malaysian Head of Chancery Khornelisman bin Jasri.

The wheelchairs were purchased with the proceeds of the ASEAN Bazaar organized by the ACMC in November 2014. After the new equipment was turned over to the hospital authorities, Ambassadors and staff from each of the five ASEAN embassies then made individual blood donations.

General Director Dr. José Alberto García Aranda and Medical Director, Dr. Jaime Nieto Zermeño received the charitable donation on behalf of the hospital. Dr. García Aranda expressed his sincere appreciation for the ACMC’s donation, and gave the Ambassadors a tour of the facilities after the donation ceremony.

The Federico Gomez Children’s Hospital was founded in 1950 and is one of the country’s first pediatric centers. Operating under the authority of the Secretariat of Health, the hospital’s main focus is to provide healthcare to children from the country’s poorest and most disadvantaged sectors and regions.

The hospital has over 100 researchers engaged in Mexico’s medical science research system, working in 162 fields of investigation in cancer, liver, and kidney transplantation, infectious diseases, cardiovascular malformations, genetic problems, as well as socio-economic studies about health programs for childhood. END