PGH welcomes centennial baby

A newborn girl from Taguig is the “centennial baby” of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

Andrea May Cerquillo is the second child of couple Anabella, 31, and Elderado, 36, of East Service Road in Western Bicutan. She was born at 12:15 a.m., the first baby delivered at the PGH last Friday, 100 years since the country’s premier state hospital was founded on Aug. 17, 1907.

“Andrea symbolizes the new PGH,” said hospital spokesman Dr. Michael Tee. “For the next 100 years, PGH is again ready to face the challenges in health care in terms of training and services.”

Andrea’s mother said she actually was supposed to give birth today, not last Friday, through caesarean operation.

“We went to PGH last Aug. 16 to accompany those who will donate blood, which I might be needing when I undergo the operation. But I felt labor pains and I also had bloodstains so the doctors did not allow me to go home,” Anabella told The STAR.

She recalled that while she was in the delivery room, she overheard the nurses and doctors excitedly saying “ito na yata ang centennial baby! (this just might be the centennial baby!).”

“I was sort of dizzy then. I did not know what they were talking about,” she said.

There were three mothers laboring then at the delivery room, but baby Andrea was the first to be welcomed into PGH’s anniversary day.

“We are very happy and honored. I wish the best for all my children,” she maintained in Filipino.

Tee said this accolade has earned for Andrea one-year supply of diapers and bath soap, one-year supply of multivitamins, one-year supply of liquid bath soap, health card for her and her whole family, baby clothes, baby carriage, one-year supply of liquid feminine wash for the mother and grocery items, among other benefits.

“This is part of the celebration of our centennial anniversary. Our efforts received a boost from President Arroyo (who gave) us another P100 million (in budget). We can further acquire state-of-the-art facilities that will help PGH maintain its status as a world-class facility not only for the rich but specially for the poor patients,” Tee added.

PGH director Dr. Carmelo Alfiler said they hope to make a big difference for PGH and “benchmark it with the best national university hospitals in Asia and the world.”

“With the wellspring of support from the national government, the university, our philanthropic pool of governmental, nongovernmental and private groups and individuals here and abroad, and most of all the Filipino public, PGH will be able to celebrate a meaningful and momentous centenary,” Alfiler said.