THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has established a “Buntis at Bagong Panganak Friendly Center” at the Mayor Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex in this city.
The sports complex houses most of the thousands of families that were displaced by the standoff that started when hundreds of Moro National Liberation Front rebels infiltrated this city.
DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman said the center is aimed to cater to the special needs of pregnant and lactating mothers who are housed at the sports complex.
“The makeshift center provides a space for pregnant women and lactating mothers to relieve stress in consideration of their special needs,” Soliman said in a statement.
“The women are also engaged in light activities like sewing baby blankets, cloth diaper and baby pillowcase inside the centers,” Soliman added.
DSWD resident physician, Dr. Gracia Gacrama, who is assigned at the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center (AVRC), has been assigned to oversee the center.
Gacrama said the mother-friendly center also serves as day shelter for pregnant women, lactating mothers and their newborn baby.
Gacrama said they will soon put up a cradle in one corner of the make-shift center for the newborn babies.
The center had provided health related services to more than 200 pregnant, lactating mothers and their newborn on its first week in partnership with the Department of Health.
Among the services provided were pre-natal services, tetanus injection, and the provision of vitamins. (Bong Garcia)