Most of the time, children will come to ask. They won’t ask the staff, you know. This makes everyone need to know where the adolescent clinic is and what its duties are. The starting point was when I first took on adolescent work since 2010. I was assigned to be responsible for the work without understanding what an adolescent clinic was. We approached doctors, approached seniors, and they were kind to us. We have been working as a team continuously, like a relationship between seniors and juniors.
There are pregnant teens who need to be involved, whether it’s antenatal care, family planning, mental health work, children’s ward, women’s ward, delivery room, including IT information systems, rights issues, and insurance work. Security guards and porters also play an important role because most of the time, children will come to ask. They won’t ask the staff, you know. This makes everyone need to know where the adolescent clinic is and what its duties are.
The most difficult issue is communication within the organization because there are many levels. Once we have the internal network, we can start the adolescent clinic. Then we can start going outside. This is the point in building an external network. It took us about 2 years to form the internal network team to achieve tangible results.
Adolescent issues are not the problem of society, but adolescents are facing societal problems. Therefore, we have a duty to alleviate their suffering and promote their well-being. Some of our medical personnel are ready, but society itself has an influence, not accepting or opposing the termination of pregnancy from external groups. Fortunately, we have the RSA network and the network from Dr. Srisamai, to whom we have referred cases outside. The doctor genuinely wants to do it. As mentioned, because we have had wounds before, we must be cautious in this matter.
Source: Interview with Khun Kritaya Daengkhuan Thong, Public Health Academic, Adolescent Clinic, Bang Saphan Hospital, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, at the Knowledge Exchange Conference on Preventing and Solving Adolescent Pregnancy Problems at Ambassador Hotel, Sukhumvit, Bangkok.