Maternity Care Benefit Package
This approach promotes timely and sufficient prenatal care while providing countrywide flexibility for various healthcare institutions.
It covers antenatal, labor, normal delivery, and immediate postpartum periods. Package ranges from P6,500 for accredited hospitals to P8,000 for infirmaries/dispensaries, birthing homes/maternity clinics, and it is applicable nationwide for accredited facilities.
Prenatal requirements:
- A minimum of four prenatal visits
- Aims to detect and manage potential danger signs and complications
- Reduces risks of perinatal deaths
Entitlement without pre-natal services:
- Members without recommended prenatal visits are still entitled to packages
- Coverage for normal spontaneous delivery
- Postpartum care included
- Package amounts range from P5,000 to P6,500
Special Cases - Caesarian section deliveries:
- P19,000 coverage for Caesarian section deliveries
- Applicable in levels 1 to 3 hospitals
Newborn Care Package
The goal of newborn screening is to detect genetic and metabolic conditions at an early stage, hence avoiding possible mental retardation or morbidity if untreated.
The Enhanced Newborn Care Package includes more coverage, increasing costs from P1,750 to P2,950. This includes basic childcare supplies such as Vitamin K, eye ointment, hepatitis B and BCG immunizations, an enhanced newborn screening test, a newborn hearing screening test, and professional expenses.
Essential newborn care involves immediate drying, early skin-to-skin contact, timely cord clamping, non-separation of mother/baby for early breastfeeding initiation, and weighing of the baby, among other critical practices.
Moreover, the expanded newborn screening test can now identify endocrine, amino, and fatty acid disorders, organic acid, urea cycle defects, cystic fibrosis, hemoglobinopathies, biotinidase deficiency, and other conditions.
Equally important is expanding access to these services. Building more birthing clinics in remote areas saves lives. Training barangay health workers in emergency childbirth enables quicker assistance. Supplying vitamins and nutritional support improves health. Upgrading skills of midwives and OB-GYNs raises care standards; and subsidizing transportation overcomes distance barriers to facilities.
But empowering women encompasses more than physical health.
Equal access to education and employment gives mothers agency over their lives. Rights awareness prevents marginalization and abuse. Family planning assistance liberates women to make informed choices about birthing. Valuing daughters ends the cycle of underinvestment in girls.
And fathers, too, must be enlisted in the journey. Responsible partners remaining present through childbirth and childcare is transformative. Men supporting women’s reproductive health choices and sharing parental duties creates lasting social impact.
With woman and child indivisible, safe motherhood uplifts families, communities, societies. The future rests in the arms of empowered mothers, secured through a safety net they can depend on. Their sacrifices and courage also provide a fascinating narrative of women's empowerment, demonstrating that every aspect of motherhood adds to the resilience and power that come from women.
The destiny of Bagong Pilipinas takes shape in those precious first breaths guided by midwives - breath by breath, life by life.
For additional details, feel free to reach out to PhilHealth through the following channels:
Hotline: (02) 866-225-88
Available 24/7, including weekends and holidays.
Mobile Hotlines (Call and Text, 24/7):
- Smart: 0998-857-2957; 0968-865-4670
- Globe: 0917-127-5987; 0917-110-9812
(GLDG/PIA-NCR)
