‘Doc Santa’ coming to typhoon-hit towns

MANILA, Philippines — “Doc Santa” is coming not just to bring gifts, but medical services for children in areas devastated by recent typhoons.

Philippine Medical Association (PMA) president Benito Atienza said they reactivated the Doc Santa medical program for the holiday season.

Atienza said doctors wearing Santa hats would give toys and set up makeshift play areas in evacuation centers.

The Santa docs will also give pediatric psychosocial services to children, especially those in evacuation centers.

The children, Atienza said, will be given coloring and drawing books, pencil and crayons as part of the pediatric psychosocial processing, wherein the level of stress and other psychological problems can be diagnosed onsite.

The PMA first launched the Doc Santa humanitarian mission in 2014 in response to disasters that struck the country that year.

Atienza said the first beneficiaries of the Doc Santa mission this year are children from Montalban, Rizal, where they would relaunch the program on Sunday.