The Department of Health (DOH) granted reaccreditation to Manila Doctors Hospital as a Mother-Baby-Friendly Health Facility (MBFHI) in 2023, a manifestation of the tertiary hospital’s thrust in promoting breastfeeding practices and quality maternal services.
The accreditation was launched by DOH in 1992 pursuant to RA 7600 or known as the “Rooming-In and Breastfeeding Act of 1992.” The MBFHI aims to facilitate and protect breastfeeding in public and private hospitals and help promote breastfeeding to mothers immediately after giving birth. To underscore this commitment, DOH accredits hospitals if they implement the “10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” adopted from the global Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative of the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization.
As per the assessment report conducted by the DOH in April 2023, Manila Doctors Hospital has “fully complied with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions.” The hospital has also written an infant feeding policy that is routinely communicated to staff and parents. It is available in every area of the facility that handles mother and baby care. Moreover, the assessment report showed that MDH has initiated programs to ensure that staff has sufficient knowledge, competence, and skills to support breastfeeding, and has discussed the basic care practices in giving birth and breastfeeding management to pregnant women through Mothers class.
Mother-friendly care initiatives have also been observed during the assessment of DOH. It includes the practices of encouraging women to have constant labor and birthing companions of their choice to provide continuous physical and emotional support;, encouraging women to walk and move about during labor, non-usage of invasive procedures unless specifically required and consideration of the use of non-drug methods of pain relief unless analgesic or anesthetic drugs are necessary.
Certified also by the Manila Health Department, MDH was also named as a Mother-Baby Friendly Workplace (pursuant to the Mother-Baby Friendly Workplace per RA 10028: Expanded Breastfeeding Act of 2009). It encourages lactating employees to continue exclusive breastfeeding for six months and to continue breastfeeding until two years and beyond.