Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (CGHMC) has been recertified as a Mother-Baby Friendly Health Facility. This marks the hospital’s fourth successful reaccreditation by the Department of Health (DOH), underscoring its continued commitment to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.
The Mother-Baby Friendly Initiative was launched by the DOH in 1992, in line with Executive Order No. 51 (the Milk Code) and the Rooming-In and Breastfeeding Act of 1992 (RA 7600). This initiative aims to improve, facilitate, and protect breastfeeding in both public and private healthcare institutions by implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, as outlined by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure a supportive environment for breastfeeding and optimal infant and maternal health.
The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding emphasize the following:
- 1a. Comply fully with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions.
1b. Have a written infant feeding policy that is routinely communicated to staff and parents.
1c. Establish ongoing monitoring and data-management systems. - Ensure that staff have sufficient knowledge, competence and skills to support breastfeeding.
- Discuss the importance and management of breastfeeding with pregnant women and their families.
- Facilitate immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact and support mothers to initiate breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth.
- Support mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding and manage common difficulties.
- Do not provide breastfed newborns any food or fluids other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.
- Enable mothers and their infants to remain together and to practise rooming-in 24 hours a day.
- Support mothers to recognize and respond to their infants’ cues for feeding.
- Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles, teats and pacifiers.
- Coordinate discharge so that parents and their infants have timely access to ongoing support and care.
The DOH Accreditation Team, together with CGHMC doctors and staff, celebrated this milestone as a reaffirmation of the hospital’s strong advocacy for maternal and infant health.
From left to right (seated): Dr. Christine Teh, Dr. Patricia Tan, Mr. Rhadrian Resuello, Ms. Joan Paulene Rey, Ms. Danica Lou Villena, Dr. Samuel Ang, Ms. Mhayi Pimentel, Mr. Joseph Placino, Ms. Charity Anastacio, Mr. Gabriel Peneda, Dr. Maybelline Yu-Chua
From left to right (standing): Dr. Nestor Garcia, Dr. Marlene Catapia, Dr. Dyan Sabalvaro, Dr. Regina Chua, Dr. Myra Tan-Pascual, Dr. Rowena Co-Lee, Dr. Elena Yap, Dr. Elizabeth Co-Yap, Head Nurses with Ms. Luna Serrano
