Cavite Municipality Launches Mobile Circumcision Amid ECQ

Cherryl Anne Cruz Apr 23, 2020

In the Philippines, it is a rite of passage for boys to claim that they have reached adulthood when they are circumcised.

And usually, this practice is done just about within this time of the year. However, with the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), how can the government enforce this project?

In the time where rolling stores are becoming a norm, the local municipality of Carmona, Cavite has a solution to that, with “Oplan Manhood on Wheels” or "Tuli on Wheels".

This annual, medical tradition in Cavite that runs for the months of April or May is ditching long lines of registration in favor of house-to-house calls. It's a project of the Provincial Government of Cavite thru the Office of the Governor-Extension in partnership with the Provincial Health Office for Cavite residents.

Based on GMA 7's 24 Oras report, the vehicle that Cavite is using once served as a transport for the government's dental programs. It was then converted as a mobile bus that goes around its municipalities.

The doctors and nurses in the project, who are noticeably garbed in protective equipment from head-to-toe, can circumcise around 15 to 20 boys each day.

Patients are initially screened by undergoing temperature checks before they undergo with the procedure. Their vital signs are also checked, and a skin testing of lidocaine is also done to the patient. If the child gets a negative skin test, then he gets circumcised and given free medications right after the operation.

Cavite, Circumcision

Circumcision—Tuli in Filipino—is considered an obligatory rite of passage for males. Most boys undergo the procedure once they reach puberty or high school--around the ages of 10 to 14 years old.

Normally, the boys undergo the procedure during the summer break, before the start of classes, to allow enough time for healing.