Establishment of more birthing centers a great help to EVRMC, says hospital info officer

TACLOBAN CITY – The establishment of birthing centers and upgrading of hospital facilities in some provinces in the region particularly in the province of Leyte is of great help for the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, said Dolly Casio, EVRMC information officer.

“The establishment of birthing centers in terms of workload will lessen our job,” said Casio in an interview.

“There would be certain cases that won’t be referred to us once these facilities begin their operations,” Casio added.

Casio added that as the end- referral hospital in the region, the referral of medical cases would not be lessened as they are the only tertiary hospital in the region.

However, as far as the construction of birthing facilities is concerned, Casio said that it would be beneficial for them as this would lessen the number of cases for child delivery at the EVRMC.

Based on the 2010 data, there were more than 3,600 maternal deliveries at the EVRMC recorded by the hospital staff that makes it as the top health service that the hospital has provided to the people in the region.

“With the construction of birthing centers in the city of Tacloban and in the province of Leyte perhaps this would lessen the child birth delivery in the hospital,” said Casio, adding that those construction is in relation to meet the Millennium Development Goal which is to lessen the number of maternal and child death in the country.

In the province of Leyte, among the top priority project of Governor Jericho “Icot” Petilla is to upgrade the hospitals and construct birthing centers in strategic places throughout the province and in partnership with various non-government organizations.

In Tacloban, the same project is also being implemented by Mayor Alfred Romualdez wherein three birthing facilities were constructed at three districts to decentralize the work of the City Health Office.

Earlier, Representative Florencio “Bem” Noel of the An Waray party-list group, had said that their group is seriously mulling of constructing birth centers both in Tacloban and in some parts of the region as part of their program making health service accessible to all. (Roel Amazona)