Gov’t hospitals to have psychiatric wards

BACOLOD CITY—All governmentrun hospitals in the country will put up their own acute psychiatric wards to strengthen the mental health program of the Department of Health (DOH).

In her speech at the 54th Annual Convention of Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP) here Wednesday, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Francia Laxamana said P1.2 billion has been allocated for the department’s health facilities enhancement program, one aspect of which is to convert 8 percent of the total hospital beds into psychiatric wards.

If a hospital has 600 beds, at least 50 of it will be for cases of mental illnesses, Laxamana said.

There are around 70 DOH-run hospitals and 700 district and provincial hospitals in the country. Negros Occidental has only one DOH-accredited hospital, the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod.

Laxamana also said regional hospitals will also have a Mental Health Wellness Centers apart from psychiatric wards.

Opening the wards means DOH needs to hire more psychiatrists and psychologists, she said. She challenged the 1,800 participants in the convention to be part of initiatives to help Filipinos with mental illnesses.

“The commitment of the Duterte administration to love the poor involves providing them with better mental health program, not just giving them money,” Laxamana said.

She cited official statistics that 18 out of 100,000 Filipinos, or 2.3 million of the total population, suffer from mental illnesses.

One million of them have epilepsy and needs medical attention.

“We are developing strategies to decrease the prevalence of mental illnesses in the country as more people still have it, triggered by their life experiences, depression, anxiety and among others,” Laxamana said.

The facilities and infrastructure are there but DOH needs more human resources and support mechanisms to fill the gaps, she said.

Laxamana said there is a big budget for medication for treating neurological and substance abuse, noting that P220 million has been earmarked for mental health programs.

She challenged the psychology professionals to help train more people down to the barangay level on Mental Health Psycho-Social Services.

“Barangay health workers lack training especially on mental health and it is our challenge to spread the awareness down to the local level,” Laxamana said.