A BABY WAS BORN

A BABY WAS BORN

Our farmer’s wife gave birth to a child, a baby girl. It was not unusual. She was brought to the Municipal Health Center at around 2:00 a.m. She quickly delivered her baby at almost about the coming of the midwife. Again it was not unusual and thanks God, everything happened quickly and smoothly except that at 6:00 a.m. she was already being discharged.

The father was told about ...the Center’s rule not to keep patient more than four hours if there were no complications. Again it was not unusual to follow the rule except that the husband didn’t have money to pay the “package amount” of Php 4,000.00. He didn’t know what to do so he approached my gardener trying to barrow said amount.

My gardener in turn told me the farmer’s predicament and I immediately went to withdraw from my ATM account which happened to be out of order that moment. I went to the Center to request that the woman be allowed to go home while I promised to immediately give the payment once the ATM got on line. My request was granted.

I advised the mother to undergo ligation as they already have three children. It was now very expensive to get pregnant considering all the collateral expenses before and after a child’s birth. Reflecting on my suggestion I wondered allowed “What if our parents underwent ligation after three children during our time?” I was the youngest in the family of ten while my wife was the 10th in a family of thirteen. The Reproductive Health Bill should really be debated intelligently and an intelligent decision must be arrived at.