Iloilo lawmaker seeks expansion of Midwifery Act

REPRESENTATIVE Janette Garin (1st district, Iloilo) called for immediate passage of House Bill 2831 or “An Act Expanding the Scope of the Practice of Midwifery, Amending for the Purpose RA 7392, also known as the Philippine Midwifery Act of 1992.”

She said the bill, which aims to strengthen and expand the scope of the practice of midwifery in the Philippines, will eventually help in the reduction of maternal and prenatal morbidity and mortality.

Garin, author of the bill and also a medical practitioner, added that there are present limitations on duties and functions of midwives to fully address the leading causes of maternal and newborn deaths.

She said the solution to these limitations is a law that will support and empower midwives to save the lives of mothers and newborns, who are entitled to their rights to life, and the highest attainable standard to health.

“Once enacted into law, midwives can better respond to emergency situations through administration of life-saving drugs, especially in hard-to-reach areas whose lives of mothers and newborns are at stake in the absence of doctors of referral facilities,” said Garin.

The lawmaker, however, also stressed the need to pass the highly clamored Reproductive Health (RH) bill that will ensure comprehensive RH and Family Planning (FP) education and services, needed by women, especially poor and marginalized women, who wants to plan their families and employ birth spacing.

“RH and FP education and services are basic components needed to help address the increasing maternal deaths,” she emphasized.

“Further, the approval of both the RH bill and the Amendment of Midwifery Act of 1992 will help attain the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which the Philippines is a signatory, that aims to accelerate improvements to reduce under-five children and maternal deaths all over the world by 2015,” Garin ended. (PR)