I have to tell you, all Indians have free socialized medical care. You need a "CDIB" card, proving you are eligible for the care...
THe Indian Health Service is lousy for some things (bad knees or non emergencies) but ok for routine care, and good at funding heart and cancer patients.
One of my patients got funding for his heart transplant through a special fund that the IHS has for such high cost procedures....
Thank you for filling me in on these things. I have Indian Health when I am in Calif. but it is useless to me here in Hawaii.
As far as helping children in other countries, another big medical ministry outreach is to Tibet, where one in 10 kids have enlarged hearts due to the high altitude of their homeland. The government welcomes medical missionaries (whereas any other type of missionary is not allowed). This is one chance to open the native population up to hearing the gospel.
And it also enhances the boundaries of medicine, as these kids are either flown to the US for treatment, or US physicians are flown overseas to provide treatment, often in conjunction with foreign doctors.
The interaction between support medical personnel with families is often where the missionary activity takes place, one on one.