Midwife praised for helping deliver baby aboard Zamboanga-bound boat

SAFE DEVLIERY Abser Amamil Sahisa, the midwife who helped Hermalyn Sali Kaning, 32, give birth onboard a boat bound for Zamboanga City on March 8, keeps the newborn warm. —CONTRIBUTED

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Hermalyn Sali Kaning, 32, could never stop being grateful to Abser Amamil Sahisa, 27, the midwife who helped her give birth safely on board while on an interisland boat.

“I thanked him greatly for the safe delivery of my baby,” Kaning said, recalling the incident on March 8, when she boarded “Kristel Jane 5” from Lamitan City in Basilan province bound for Zamboanga City, where she was supposed to give birth at the Zamboanga Medical Center.

But she was still on the boat when her birthing pains came. Luckily, Sahisa, who was also heading to Zamboanga City for some errands from the Lamitan City Health Office, heard the boat captain’s broadcast call for medical help.

“I heard the boat captain asking if there was a midwife or a nurse on board, so I immediately ran to the captain’s office to help. I was aware someone was about to give birth,” Sahisa said.

At the captain’s office, he saw a woman in pain and ready to give birth. He quickly put on a pair of gloves and in six minutes thereafter, he delivered the baby girl.

Praiseworthy

Bangsamoro Health Minister Kadil “Jojo” M. Sinolinding Jr. praised Sahisa for his skills and presence of mind in helping a mother deliver even in the middle of the sea.

He described the act as a true testament to the dedication of Bangsamoro health-care workers and an “an exemplary act worthy of emulation.”

“I was not afraid because I’ve been used to doing this in my profession. I was trained to do it,” said Sahisa, a midwifery graduate of the Jose Rizal Memorial State University in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, who worked in the town’s district hospital three years ago.

“Sanay na po ako (I’m already so used to doing it in) any moving vehicle, in the field, in open spaces, we are all trained to deliver,” Sahisa said. “I remember helping a woman give birth inside a moving ambulance, or helping mothers give birth in a hospital without operating rooms,” Sahisa said, remembering the condition in the first hospital where he worked before he found a job at the Lamitan City Health Office. INQ

Editor’s Note: This article is one of the last stories submitted by Julie Alipala, the Inquirer Mindanao Bureau’s staff reporter based in Zamboanga City, a week before she passed away due to cancer complications on April 3.