Healing Closer to Home in Barangay Putik

In Barangay Putik, where families have long relied on a modest community clinic for their most urgent health needs, a renewed sense of care has quietly taken shape. The recent rehabilitation of the Putik Health Center marks more than a physical upgrade—it represents a deeper promise that quality primary healthcare can remain within reach for the 23,247 residents who depend on it each day.

Through the support of SM Foundation and the partnership of the Zamboanga City government, a facility first established in the early 1990s now stands better prepared to serve a growing community.

Inside the improved center, everyday health services continue with strengthened capacity. Patients receive medical consultations and treatment, with free medicines provided whenever supplies allow. Children are protected through the Expanded Program for Immunization, which includes life-saving vaccines from birth through early childhood.

Nutrition programs such as Operation Timbang, vitamin supplementation, food support, and deworming help guard the well-being of young residents, while family planning services offer women informed and responsible choices for their reproductive health.

Care extends across every stage of life. Expectant mothers are supported through prenatal, natal, and postnatal services, ensuring safer journeys into motherhood. Tuberculosis detection and treatment remain a priority, including attention to multidrug-resistant cases, while patients living with hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions receive monitoring and guidance to manage long-term health risks. Beyond treatment, the center also leads disease surveillance and environmental sanitation efforts—quiet but essential work that protects the wider community from emerging threats.

The transformation of the Putik Health Center forms part of SM Foundation’s broader Health and Medical Program, an initiative dedicated to strengthening public healthcare systems nationwide.
With more than 200 health centers supported and over seven million patients served across the Philippines, the effort reflects a belief that meaningful change begins at the community level. In Putik, that belief now lives in newly restored walls, steady medical care, and the reassurance that healing is never too far from home.