NEW BUILDING. Fr. Leonardo Ruiz blesses the new building of the Piddig District Hospital on February 27, 2023. A newborn hearing screening machine will soon be available in this hospital courtesy of the Department of Health. (File photo courtesy of Piddig LGU)
LAOAG CITY - More newborn in remote areas of Ilocos Norte no longer need to be traveled far to avail of sophisticated newborn screening test as this will soon be available at the newly-upgraded Piddig District Hospital.
Dr. Medeldorf Gaoat, chair of the committee on health of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Ilocos Norte confirmed this on Monday after Provincial Council members approved resolution no. 2023-10-213 authorizing Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc to accept for and on behalf of the provincial government a unit of newborn hearing screening machine from the Department of Health-Center for Health Development in Region 1, represented by its regional director, Dr. Paula Paz M. Sydiongco.
The donation is part of the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program for the prevention, early diagnosis, and intervention of hearing loss among infants and newborn, the DOH said.
Other district hospitals in the region that received similar equipment include the Doña Josefa Edralin Marcos District Hospital in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur’s district hospitals in the towns of Narvacan, Cervantes, and Salcedo.
Goat said the newborn hearing screening machines play a vital role in the lives of people who may have been born with hearing concerns.
“Through early detection, lives could change,” he told journalists after the Provincial Council’s session.
Earlier, Sydiongco stressed the importance for babies to have hearing screening since “hearing is necessary for the speech development and mental growth of a child.” (PNA)
