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US Air National Guard doctors visit Loma Cova, Arraijan
photos courtesy of the American Embassy

Loma Cova is a hardscrabble neighborhood in Arraijan that was originally populated by squatters, some of them Kunas who worked at the nearby Howard - Rodman - Kobbe US military base complex. On March 22 the Air Force, which left Howard in 1999, came back in the form of a medical team of 10 US Air National Guard doctors who saw patients for vision, dental, pediatric, gynaecological and nutritional problems vaccinated a lot of kids, distributed vitamins and fitted amputees and breast cancer patients with prostheses. The team's itinerary also included five other stops in Panama and Darien provinces.

As with other US military medical missions, there was a political goodwill component to this tour and American Ambassador William A. Eaton showed up to press the flesh, pose for photos and review the mission's progress. But these missions also have a medical and military training component, because they give physicians the opportunity to see and treat some tropical disorders that they won't encounter in the United States.

The doctors saw some 7,000 patients at this stop, which took place at the Llano Bonito elementary school.