By ROCAYA SUMNDAD OTICAL YAHYA
MARAWI CITY: The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) hired 73 community midwives coming from Maguindanao province and 10 others from the regional offices to beef up medical services in the region’s villages.
“One of our goals is to equip our Barangay Health Stations with complete facilities, each of which will be assigned a midwife,” according to BARMM Minister of Health Dr. Saffrullah Dipatuan who led the oath-taking ceremony of the new set of midwives on Tuesday at the health regional training center in Cotabato City.
The members of Midwife in Every Community in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MECA 1) of the defunct ARMM were the first to get a regular employment status. The MOH-BARMM office continued its request to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to grant regular status for Midwife in Every Community in BARMM 2 (MECBA-2).
Dipatuan assured that once the appointment of the MECBA 2 will be settled and finalized by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the GSIS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG and all other benefits will be reflected.
The Ministry of Health plans to hire more than 100 midwives in the region, and encourages midwives to apply to become part of human resources for health and deployment program.
During Tuesday’s oath-taking ceremony, Dr. Ehsan D. Paudac, Head of MECBA, announced that members of MECBA 1 and MECBA 2 will receive a sum of P10, 000 as Emergency Relief Assistance Allowance (ERRA) provided by MOH-BARMM.
Meanwhile, Sambra C. Abas, 31, a resident of Bulalo, Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao, shared that she waited for five years to get appointed and that the recruitment process was a bit challenging, especially there are lots of registered midwife graduates.
“Alhamdulillah! Big blessing ‘yong mapasama ako dito, especially na Ramadhan ngayon. Shukran sa Ministry of Health sa pagserbisyo nang ‘Makabagong BARMM’ ngayon at natupad ‘yung matagal na naming hinihintay,” Abas said.
[All Praise be to Allah. It is indeed a huge blessing that I was included here especially during this month of Ramadhan. I thank the Ministry of Health for rendering its services (in the name of) the new BARMM Government. This is what we have been waiting for.]
Simultaneously, 38 midwifery personnel from the province of Basilan and the City of Lamitan took their oath today at around 9 AM in the said province. (RSP)
The Ranao Star 