Healthcare workers should also be protected from COVID-19, which is why patients who need to be admitted at the City Health Office (CHO) Lying-in Clinic must first undergo the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test and must be negative prior to admission.

“This precautionary measure is imperative as COVID-19 is still here,” said City Administrator Em Ang, who is also the executive director of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Close and “skin-to-skin” contact with patients during childbirth is inevitable for healthcare workers at the lying-in clinic.

“Thus, it is necessary to know whether you test positive or negative [for COVID-19], so that clinic staff can take precautionary measures,” Ang added.

Pre-admission testing will not only protect healthcare workers, but also the mother and her newborn child, she stressed.

The Bacolod Respiratory Outpatient (BRO) Center, located in front of the public plaza, offers free COVID-19 RT-PCR tests for pregnant women. The BRO Center is open Mondays to Sundays for swabbing services.

“It should be an SOP (standard operating procedure) for patients to undergo COVID-19 RT-PCR tests prior to admission and delivery at the lying-in clinic,” she said.

OIC-City Health Officer, Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., said a memorandum has been issued last year which requires those who will give birth at the lying-in clinic to comply with the testing requisite before admission.

Despite the memorandum, many patients were still not compliant.

“Let’s not put the health of our healthcare workers at risk. We need to help one another against this pandemic. Let’s help protect the healthcare system, so we can continue to serve and protect the health of each Bacolodnon,” Miraflor said.

He added, “When one healthcare worker gets infected with COVID-19, the lying-in clinic may temporarily close. It could cease the operations. Since we badly need unhampered health services, we have to follow the protocols.”/WDJ