Maternity Ward

This specific maternity ward is located in the Hospital Escuela (Hospital School), which is where student doctors are learning their profession. This hospital provides services mainly to the lower class. Women that go there to give birth usually pay around $5.00 for the entire labor and delivery and care.

There are approximately 15,000 babies being born in this hospital each year, which is around 40 a day. Many of these women are very young and first time moms. Because of their poverty, these new mothers cannot afford diapers, clothes, or blankets for their newborn. Which means many of these babies will go home either naked or wrapped in a feces covered bed sheet. Some babies are even left at the hospital, abandoned by their mother.

Mission teams have the opportunity to love on these mothers and babies. When visiting the hospital, teams bring diapers, onesies, and blankets to distribute to each mother. They also pray with the new mothers, and if the mother allows, they will change the baby and wrap it in its new blanket.