CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— The Population Commission 10 (Northern Mindanao) has begun assisting the Department of Health (DOH) and local health workers in delivering reproductive health services, an official said Tuesday.
Popcom-10 Director Jeremias Gupit said recent organizational changes in the commission have made its functions more aligned with the DOH’s mandate to provide reproductive health services to Filipinos.
Gupit said Popcom’s in-house nurses are now directly engaged in administering sub-dermal contraceptives to women in the barangays, a function that was once exclusive to the DOH.
He said the collaboration between Popcom-10 and the regional health office here is “by far the first in the country.”
“We’re also doing this to draw public awareness on this particular (birth control) method, to let them know that there are also other (contraceptive) methods available,” the Popcom-10 chief said.
The sub-dermal implant, Implanol, is a contraceptive that is injected under the skin layers of female clients. It works seven days after implant and would last up to three years.
Gupit said the DOH provides them the contraceptive supply, which was purchased in 2015 but was temporarily halted by the Supreme
Court due to a temporary restraining order. It was only last year that the TRO was lifted and DOH began administering Implanol to mothers.
After three years, Gupit said clients may again opt for another implant as the DOH will continue purchasing the contraceptive based on the allocated budget.
More than a thousand clients have availed of the sub-dermal implant in Northern Mindanao so far this year, he said. (Nef Luczon/PNA)
