Being one of the physician’s who did those “one-shot medical missions” before, truth is I hated it. Maybe “hate” is such a strong word, but I disliked going to them mainly because the people who line up there aren’t really sick. They just want freebies. They just tell you that they have a cough or a cold and after giving them a prescription they would say “Dra. pwede vitamins na lang?” See? Also, it’s such a thankless job, you’re dead tired at the end of the day and the politicians that invited you there don’t really care about the people’s welfare.

that is an example of one of many medical missions out there.

It’s a fact, it feels good to help people. So a business or an organization should not be guilty if they feel good about charity. Never mind if their primary motivation is self-promotion, tax advantages and other “selfish” reasons – the important thing is that they helped the less fortunate, no matter how small, weak or “insincere” it was.

People living in poverty, I believe, are and will always be grateful for any form and any size of charity they can get.

Just my two cents.

I so agree with this. In fact, the ones who “feel good” even use it to their advantage. For media mileage most of the time. I don’t think that’s charity. I think that’s self promotion.