SAN JOSE, Occidental Mindoro (PIA) -- The San Jose District Hospital (SJDH) and Barangay Monteclaro Health Center received P2,423,389.00 worth of humanitarian aid from the Latter-day Saints (LDS) Charities, Philippines.

The aid provided for the SJDH focuses on providing medical equipment and tools for neonatal care, such as incubators, saturation and heart rate monitors, bassinets, and other newborn tools.

Dr. Maribel Benoza-Santos of SJDH shared that the hospital catered to 3,000 newborns last 2022 and there were instances where their equipment is not sufficient for all the newborns in their facility. 

“[May] dalawang (2) incubator [ang SJDH], pero sa operating room (OR) ‘yon, sa Septic Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), wala…[kaya] ang mangyayari, kapag walang incubator, droplight na lang, (SJDH has two (2) incubators in the OR. There is no incubator in the Septic NICU, so what we use is droplight), Benoza-Santos explained.

On the other hand, Brgy. Monteclaro received medical equipment and Information Communications Technology (ICT) materials geared towards improving information dissemination on medical services available to the community, particularly for the Indigenous People (IP).

Brgy. Captain Von Joseph Ortelano of Monteclaro shared that the donations will greatly improve the barangay’s medical services, particularly for the IP communities which comprise almost 65% of the barangay’s population.

The recipients and the LDS Charities signed a memorandum of agreement during the turnover activity held at San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. (DSG/PIA Occidental Mindoro)