QC maternity clinics required to obtain licenses

MANILA, Philippines— Birthing clinics in Quezon City are now required to secure local licenses to protect would-be clients against any form of medical malpractice.

This is so because the City Council has passed the Birthing Homes Regulatory Ordinance which aims to impose strict requirements on such clinics operating in Quezon City.

Authored by Councilor Jessica Castelo Daza, the measure is part of the city government’s efforts to raise standards of maternal obstetrics health care for the public.

“It is imperative for the city government to devise means in order for birthing mothers to have easy access to affordable but safe birthing homes in order to reduce maternal and infant mortality,” she said.

Under the ordinance, birthing clinics are required to secure the necessary business permits as well as Philhealth accreditation and other sanitation requirements.

Clinics which fail to do so risk closure by the city government until the clinics comply with the requirements.

For not securing a Philhealth accreditation, the ordinance imposes a P5,000 fine if the operator of the birthing clinic does not get a permit to operate within a month.

The measure also penalizes clinics which refuse to admit mothers about to give birth with fines ranging from P1,000 to P5,000.

The fines are apart from possible temporary closure ranging from a week to a month.

For more than five instances of verified violations, the birthing home faces permanent closure.

The ordinance also requires the clinics to conduct newborn screening tests, and provide BCG and Hepatitis B birth dose immunization to infants.

Daza noted that 1.8 percent of women in Quezon City die each year from childbirth and other pregnancy-related causes.