TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Gov. James Edubba participated in a series of learning exploration towards understanding the causes of maternal deaths in the province recently. This Deep Dive Learning Journey is part of the Leadership Development Program (LDP) granted to the Kalinga provincial health team by the Cordillera office of the Department of Health through a partnership with the Zuellig Family Foundation.
The World Health Organization defines maternal death as death due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth. In 2022 alone, 5 deaths were recorded in Kalinga, one is a 33-year-old mother of eight children from Tulgao West, Tinglayan, a geographically isolated and disadvantaged area.
Edubba visited the bereaved family together with his provincial health team composed of Provincial Health Officer Dr. Edward Tandingan, Dr. Zandra Dupali (DRRM-H); the city’s Maternal Health Coordinator Karen Molina, Dr. Rey Aranca, Chief of Hospital of the Kalinga Provincial Hospital, and representatives from the regional office of the DOH, Dr. Bridgit Hydee A. Salao and Ms. Lilia Rose Say-awen. The team learned that socioeconomic factors, client navigation, health care delivery, and belief systems were some of the aspects that contributed to her death.
The team also visited the Tulgao East Barangay Health Station, Rural Health Unit in Poblacion, Tinglayan, Kalinga District Hospital in Lubuagan, and Kalinga Provincial Hospital to discuss details surrounding the 33-year-old patient’s case, as well as actual scenarios of patient referrals within the provincial health system.
Their learning explorations helped them uncover the challenges of the marginalized, see the health system through the eyes of the people, and learn ways to improve the healthcare delivery.
“In my term, I will make it a point that health programs are prioritized, even the most basic,” said the governor.
The governor’s tagline, “Kalinga Lumin-awa” (Healthy Kalinga) is his pledge to bring quality healthcare nearer to the people – a vision that Universal Health Care shares. By DOH-CAR
