BAGUIO CITY — Five district health centers in Baguio City are set to be upgraded to birthing stations to attend to the needs of pregnant women from the villages.
Dr. Maria Alice Torres, the city’s maternal and neonatal child health and nutrition coordinator, said these are the health centers in the villages of Atok Trail, Atab, Scout Barrio, Pinsao, and Irisan.
The City Health Services Office (CHSO) added that the upgrade of the five health centers is aimed at easing the birthing load of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), the only tertiary government hospital in the city.
The CHSO said the upcoming five birthing stations would be equipped with appropriate personnel and tools to facilitate the normal delivery of pregnant women.
It said the birthing stations would be more accessible to women from the villages because of proximity to their homes.
The City Local Civil Registry Office recorded 9,867 births in the city in 2017 and registered 4,192 newborns in the first five months of 2018 alone.
Torres said the CHSO is planning to upgrade two more district health centers to birthing stations on top of the upcoming five to decongest the BGHMC.
She said four maternal deaths had been recorded in Baguio in 2017, although two of them were not residents of the city.
For 2018, a lone case of maternal death was recorded in June.
Earlier, the Department of Health embarked on the establishment of birthing stations in urban and rural areas in the country to facilitate the health-based delivery of birthing mothers. This would allow mothers and the babies to immediately receive the required care, as well as the newborn screening.
The CHSO manages 16 district health centers in various parts of Baguio to cater to the primary and basic health needs of the residents of the city’s 128 barangays.
It said that the birthing stations would continue to serve as facilities promoting good nutrition and the government’s health programs among the locals, primarily the rearing of children during their first 1,000 days.
Torres also urged residents near the birthing stations to avail of these facilities’ services on appropriate medical attention instead of giving birth at home. (Liza Agoot/PNA)
