Cebu Maternity Hospital celebrates 100th anniversary

Board members of the Cebu Maternity Hospital hold a press conference on Tuesday, August 23, 2022. | Wenilyn B. Sabalo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — After 100 years in service, the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House, Inc. (CPCMHI) or more popularly known as Cebu Maternity Hospital remains to be the top venue for prioritizing women and children through quality healthcare and education.

The CPCMHI board of trustees and the Cebu Woman’s Club behind it, celebrates the hospital’s 100th founding anniversary this September 2022.

The hospital is the only non-profit institution that actively promotes women’s rights to education and quality healthcare, including promotion of newborn health.

Just like any other hospital in Cebu, the CPCMHI also has its share of challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it rose above these challenges which makes the celebration of its 100th founding anniversary all the more memorable and special.

“We opened innovations like naghimo mi og online consultation so that ma continue lang gihapon ang atong mga serbisyo. And also during the pandemic, we also made sure nga safe ang among mga empleyado,” Dr. Ma. Cristina Senerpida, CPCMHI Board president said during a press conference on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

“As I quoted, ‘to infinity and beyond’ that is how we foresee Maternity Hospital. We made sure nga ang among mga serbisyo, magsige sad og improve,” she added emphasizing their efforts in making their medical residency program industry-approved and compliant.

In the last 30 years, after the hospital’s accreditation, it has already produced about 120 medical residents. Based also on the hospital’s record, it has 3,000 infant deliveries a year– with a peak of 5,000 deliveries a year.

Among the board members present during the press conference on Tuesday, August 23, were Ma. Vida Carmencita Martinez, Vice President; Dr. Ma Lourdes Villegas, Secretary; Dr. Iris Jakosalem-Lastimosa, assistant secretary; Ma. Lourdes Caridad Verches, treasurer; Andran Castillo, assistant treasurer, and Rowena Martinez, auditor.

Among the activities lined up for their month-long anniversary celebration are the opening salvo and mass celebration on Sept. 2, an outreach program at the Sacred Heart Parish Church on Sept. 10 with free cervical cancer screening and free breast examination, and tree planting activity in Sogod on September 24.

Background

Four years after the creation of the Cebu Woman’s Club in 1918, the first Cebu Maternity House was set up in Fort San Pedro in 1922.

From being a healthcare institution with only a 10-bed capacity, the maternity house now is a 75-bed hospital offering prenatal and postnatal services, including normal deliveries assistance.

The Cebu Woman’s Club was created in 1918 after Cebu’s prominent and civic-minded women voluntarily came together to share and serve the underprivileged women and children of Cebu and its neighboring islands by setting up puericulture centers in barangays Parian, San Nicolas, Pardo, and Mabolo.

In 1923, the Cebu School of Midwifery was founded, with 14 pioneering graduates from the institution.

A year after, in 1924, a new site for the maternity house was identified at its present location in B. Rodriguez St.

Cebu Maternity House was closed from 1942 until 1945 due to World War II. The House was then converted into a Japanese headquarters. Rehabilitation and reconstruction took place in the late 1945 until 1949.

In 1955, the School of Midwifery was reopened.

In 1956, a two-storey annex building, including an additional dormitory and outpatient department was constructed.

In 1973, the Cebu Maternity Hospital officially became Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House, Inc.

Services

The Cebu Maternity Hospital offers the following clinical services: nursing service, labor room, delivery room, operating room, and special care unit.

The hospital also has an outpatient department, laboratory department, pharmacy section, and ambulance service.     /rcg