An association of midwives, mostly owners of maternity lying-in clinics on Thursday took a swipe at the Department of Health (DOH) for a 2021 circular restricting them to provide normal delivery for first-time mothers and those to give birth for their fifth child.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Patricia Gomez, Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines (IMAP) Inc. executive director, said DOH’s Department Circular No. 2021-0005 goes against the Midwifery Act of 1992, forcing affected pregnant women to resort to traditional birth attendants or the so-called hilot.
Under the directive, a lying-in clinic is not allowed to accommodate the delivery of primigravid (G1) or first-born child and grand-multigravid (G5) or fifth child and above.
Apart from this, Gomez said, midwives are prohibited to provide delivery for pregnant women aged 36 years and above.
“At least 40 percent of the maternal lying-in clinics across the country have shut down,” she cited. She lamented that IMAP has sought a dialogue with officials of DOH since 2021, to no avail.
“Today (Feb. 10), we hope to sit down with DOH, discuss our concerns and have a fruitful dialogue,” she told reporters.
“To DOH officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, please listen to us, talk to us,” she said.
She said the health department is obliging lying-in operators to enter into a memorandum of understanding with waste disposal haulers, and even into a memorandum of agreement with any DOH-accredited ambulance services, “an additional burden to us.”
“DOH keeps on imposing (strict) guidelines on us, such to have a wider area size of our clinics, whose owners are prohibited to expand because they are just renting out spaces,” she added.
Despite their “honest” intention to help during imminent birthing, various violations have been slapped against midwives if they do so, she said.
She, however, clarified that IMAP is a partner of the government.
“We want to help decongest hospitals and provide services to the public to the extent that we do not ask for payment on those who could not afford to pay us,” she said.
“We pay taxes. Our book of accounts is open (to scrutiny). (The government) can see how many birthing we have in a day and how much we have earned,” she added.
She also expressed disappointment over the failure of the Philippine Health Corp. (PhilHealth) to settle the bills of the birthing mothers. IMAP is composed of 65,000 to 75,000 licensed midwives.
Aileen Gay Vinoya, IMAP Rizal/Marikina chapter president, said.
“We midwives are all obedient. We are also educated. We save the lives of the child and the mother even if sometimes our patient does not have the money to pay us.”
She hit PhilHealth for neglect to settle the bills of its members who avail of the services of a lying-in clinic.