DLSUMC opens women’s health center

SEEING an increasing demand to cater to women’s health and medical issues, De La Salle University Medical Center (DLSUMC) recently opened its Women’s Health Center.

Headed by Dr. Rex Poblete under the direction of the Director for Specialized Services Dr. Gary Carlos, the center is composed of four units: OB -Ultrasound Unit, Colposcopy Unit, Teenage Pregnancy Unit and Menopause Unit.

The Center for Women’s Health offers the essential services that patients need to stay healthy long into their senior years. The four sections encompass the health care needs of women across all age groups from the time they can potentially have children until the twilight of their lives.

The center also provides an opportunity to educate female patients, which calls for scheduling regular health checkups, routine pap smears and mammograms; taking preventative care against concerns like HPV, ovarian and breast cancers; and, overall, just doing what is best for the patients.

Meanwhile, the Teenage Pregnancy Unit was one of the priorities due to the rising incidence of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines. Figures from the 2013 National Demographic and Health Study showed that 1 out 10 young Filipino women aged 15 to 19 had began childbearing: 8 percent were already mothers and another 2 percent were pregnant with their first child.

For the unit, an adult pediatrician and a psychiatrist are needed to address the concerns of teenage mothers, as they are prone to develop complications in pregnancies given the psychosocial and economic implications of being a new mother.

The Menopausal Unit, on the other hand, addresses the needs of the menopausal women. These are physiological changes in the life of a woman.

In the Philippines, women are expected to accept the ill effects of these changes but if taken care of during their peri-menopausal years, the manifestations of menopause can be different and they can live a better quality of life longer.

The unit is envisioned to be multidisciplinary specialization to include an internal medicine and orthopedics for the complications of menopause.

Colposcopy is a procedure that examines the cervix, vagina and vulva. It is a very good “cleaning tool” for the diagnosis of cervical cancer in its early stage. For young women who have had sexual activities, a pap smear can be an adequate tool to detect cervical cancer. For abnormal results of pap smear or any irregularity in the cervix, a colposcopy is needed for probable cervical cancer diagnosis.

Finally, the OB-Ultrasound Unit is the central unit for diagnosing pregnancy and abnormalities in the reproductive organ of women.

Women’s health is a priority; taking care of the female population is taking care of the next generation. Come and visit the Women’s Health Center located at the ground floor between buildings 1 and 2 of DLSUMC. For further inquiries, contact (046) 481-8000 (Cavite Line) or 988-3100 (Manil a Line) local 1225.