BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The Department of Health-Cordillera (DOH-CAR) continues to push for the establishment of Women and Children Protection Units (WCPU) in every hospital in the region.
WCPU is a unit composed of a multidisciplinary team of trained physicians, social workers, mental health professionals, and police, providing comprehensive medical and psychosocial services to women and children victims of violence.
DOH-CAR Women and Children Protection Program Coordinator Glenda Dacanay shared that in the region, only four hospitals have established functional WCPU, namely, the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, the Benguet General Hospital, the Luis Hora Memorial Regional Hospital, and the Far North Luzon General Hospital.
She added that the Kalinga Provincial Hospital is in the process of establishing its WCPU.
DOH-CAR Women and Children Protection Program Coordinator Glenda Dacanay discusses the establishment of WCPU in hospitals during the Usapang PIA on Thursday, November 23, 2023.
Dacanay explained that although services are already being provided in the hospitals, most of the hospitals in the region do not yet have a unit dedicated to providing services to women and children who are victims of violence.
“Actually, nandun na ‘yung services pero ‘yung unit na naka-focus para sa pagbigay ng serbisyo, hindi pa talaga nabubuo. Lahat naman ng lalapit sa mga health facilities natin, nabibigyan ng atensyon whether they are victims or hindi,” Dacanay said.
Among the requirements for the establishment of WCPU include all hospital personnel shall undergo training on the recognition, reporting, recording, and referral (4R’s) of cases of violence against women and children.
This year, health personnel from 35 hospitals in Cordillera underwent the 4R’s training.
“Yung training po na ito is a three-day training. Everytime na may iti-train tayo from our hospitals in the different provinces or city dito sa region, iniimbitahan po natin ang WCP ng BGHMC, dahil sila pa lang ‘yung capacitated to give that special kind of training to our health care providers,” Dacanay said.
She added that after the training, they request the participants to establish a WCPU or at least a women and children protection desk.
Pursuant to Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004, the DOH is mandated to institutionalize, standardize, and strengthen WCPUs in all DOH-retained and local government hospitals, as well as put in place a coordinated set of quality multi-sectoral services for all women and children who have experienced violence.
In 2013, the DOH issued Administrative Order No. 2013-0011, or the Revised Policy on the Establishment of WCPU in all government hospitals. The order aims to institutionalize and standardize the quality of health service delivery in all women and children protection units in support of the strategic thrust to achieve Universal Health Care. (DEG-PIA CAR with Regel Ferrer, SLU Intern)
