Monday, 17 August 2020 10:46

Barangay health centers promote teleconsultation for expectant mothers, patients

Written by Stephen Capillas
Barangay health centers promote teleconsultation for expectant mothers, patients Screengrab photos by Stephen Capillas

Online consultation and use of covered courts are among the minimum health safety protocols being implemented in the city´s barangay health centers to avoid COVID-19 infection.

“Even with our limited personnel we are thankful to our community development volunteers (CDVs), doctors, nurses and midwives for responding to the challenge of caring for our pregnant residents despite the pandemic,” said Dr. Mercedes Barba, City Health Office (CHO) nurse supervisor during Friday morning´s (Aug. 14) press briefing.

Owing to City Hall´s efforts to decongest Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) by accommodating most non-COVID-19 cases, Dr. Barba said they saw a rise of 400 birth deliveries a month since early April this year.

“Barangay Bulua´s health center tops the city´s birth deliveries followed by the City Health Office and Barangay Camaman-an,” Dr. Barba said.

Aside from using the barangay´s covered courts to accommodate more patients, Dr. Ina Grace Chiu, coordinator of CHO´s expanded immunization program, said they are encouraging city residents to make appointments with their barangay health centers similar to the online appointment setup dubbed Telemedicine by the CHO on their Facebook page.

“Due to the pandemic we have to minimize close contact with our patients hence the teleconsultation. We don´t even use stethoscopes on our patients and instead we rely on our trained clinical eye and conversations with our patients to determine what medicines we can use on them,” Dr. Chiu said.