By Jennifer P. Gaitano
BUTUAN CITY, June 24 (PIA) -- In time with the
8th Biennial Chapter Assembly slated July 27, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC)
Agusan del Norte-Butuan City Chapter will be holding a
"Bingo-for-a-Cause" on July 7 at the Balanghai Hotel and Convention
Center here.
The 8th Biennial Chapter Assembly is anchored on
the theme “Philippine Red Cross @ 63: 24/7 Service to Humanity.”
According to PRC Chapter Administrator Teodoro
Cairo, each ticket will cost P500, which includes one snack and five bingo
games.
“The Philippine Red Cross Agusan del
Norte-Butuan City Chapter, with its board of directors and members, has been
doing this kind of initiative annually for fund raising. Through this, the PRC
could be able to extend more help to the public with these resources,” said
Cairo.
It was learned that as of June 22, 823 tickets
were already dispatched while 177 tickets are still available at the Red Cross
office here.
The Philippine Red Cross Agusan del Norte-Butuan
City Chapter calls on the public to support and take part on this activity.
(JPG/PIA-Caraga)
LGU-Agusan del Norte regularly upgrades health
facilities
By Robert E. Roperos
BUTUAN CITY, June 24 (PIA) -- The provincial
government is regularly upgrading its health facilities to ensure residents of
the province access to quality health services.
This was assured by Gov. Erlpe John Amante in a speaking engagement held here recently, saying that through the Dept.
of Health’s (DOH) Health Facility Engagement Program (HFEP), the first phase
upgrading of the provincial hospital has been on-going.
He added that the province has invested a total
of P3.15 million for the additional upgrade and rehabilitation of these
facilities.
Amante also said other facilities in the prime
health facility were also upgraded like the rehabilitation of the provincial
hospital’s emergency room, water tank and pipelines, chapel and paining of
exterior wall and the construction of waste septic vault.
Further, Gov. Amante said as one of the
recipients of a grant from the Spanish Agency for International Development
Cooperation (Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion International Para el Desarollo)
or the AECID Phase II project, Rural Health Units in the municipalities of
Kitcharao, Jabonga, Santiago, Magallanes and Cabadbaraan City were identified
as recipients of the grant.
He added that included in the grant are projects
of Construction or Expansion of Barangay Health Station in recipient-barangays.
“The overall project cost of the AECID grant is close to P15.5 million,” Amante
said.
In order to support saving lives, the governor
said the Provincial Hospital’s Blood Collection Unit conducted 27 bloodletting
sessions and collected 692 units of blood from various donors.
“With our partnership with the Philippine Red
Cross who collected 1,337 units, a total of 2,029 units were made available
last year,” the official said. (RER/PIA-Caraga)
Agusan del Norte LGU intensifies health program
By Robert E. Roperos
BUTUAN CITY, June 24 (PIA) -- The provincial
government of Agusan del Norte is intensifying its health program to provide a
wider base of its constituents with proper health care.
According to Gov. Erlpe John Amante, the Sagip
Kalusugan sa Barangay (Save Health in Barangay) program was able to serve a
total of 46 barangays and provided 15,520 beneficiaries with free medicines and
dental services.
Gov. Amante also said residents of the province
also availed the Philhealth Indigency Program, which provides the means for
families to access hospital services at least cost.
The chief executive of the province added in
2011, the province has enrolled over 25,000 families and allotted some
P7,792,260 as counterpart for the coverage.
Further, local exec stressed that in terms of
local health system, the provincial government has been focused on its vision
of a healthy, productive, empowered citizenry equitably enjoying quality
preventive, curative, and rehabilitative health services in a clean and healthy
environment.
Similarly, the official said, the province has
been keeping up with its mission to provide adequate, competent, and committed
personnel to deliver quality services to the people of Agusan del Norte.
“The current ratio of rural physicians in
Buenavista, Nasipit, and the city of Cabadbaran is already within the national
standard of 1:20,00. Our midwife to population ratio of 1:4,000 is better than
the national standard of 1:5,000,” Amante said.
Meantime, Amante said the reduction of maternal
deaths to five in 2011 compared to 12 in 2010 or a maternal mortality rate of
0.66 per 1,000 live births and the decrease of morbidity rate demonstrated the
results of the province’s efforts of promoting good health.
The official further stressed the province has
also continued to provide services that ensure safe pregnancy and delivery for
women in facilities of standard quality.
He added a total of 6,245 pregnant women have
visited the province’s health facilities and availed of ante-natal care
services, and about 85 percent of the pregnant women were assisted by skilled
birth attendants during their delivery.
“Deliveries in our health facilities reached
75.2 percent in 2011. This increase is attributed to the presence of birthing
facilities with trained personnel in our Rural Health Units and Barangay Health
Centers,” Amante said.
These, according to the Guv, are among the
measures which were identified by the provincial government in an effort to
provide and promote proper and good health to Agusanons.
With this development, the official extended his
gratitude to health personnel of the provincial hospital and the provincial
health office for these achievements. (RER/PIA-Caraga)