WITH the “very little investment” in mental health, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial on Thursday signed an administrative order on the nationwide implementation of the department’s mental health program.
“We’ll change this landscape, this paradigm,” said Ubial, who gave assurances the DoH is at present advocating the passage of the first ever Mental Health Law in the Philippines.
Ubial told reporters on the sidelines of the 2nd Public Health Convention on Mental Health at Century Park Hotel in Manila the country’s investments in mental health were a priority under the Duterte administration.
This is also a priority of the DoH under her leadership, she said, adding this is reflected in her department’s proposed 2017 budget.
From a P36-million program in 2016, she said they have proposed a 2017 budget of P220 million for the mental health program.
Under the department’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program, P1.2 billion will be allocated for the improvement of the country’s mental health facilities.
“Our budget and our direction is really to upgrade the existing [projects], we will not add anything new because the concept is really a community-based mental health program. So more or less the facility-based will be for acute care,” said Ubial.
Before administrative order was signed, Ubial said the mental health program was implemented only “on a pilot basis.”
“So if somebody had an intervention, they go to the community, they do it, but it’s not, shall we say, uniformly implemented in all—for example —RHUs [rural health unites]. With an administrative order, the nationwide implementation of the program is defined,” she said.
The Administrative Order contains a comprehensive framework of how the mental health program will be implemented at all levels of the health system, like rural health unit, the barangay health station, and even in the community: how it will be implemented, who will be in charge, and what strategies and activities will happen at the community level.
Based on one of the best practices in Cuba, Ubial said that as much as possible, they will remove the chronic care facilities because their concept is reintegration of the mental health patients as well as drug abuse patients.
During her keynote speech on Thursday, Ubial cited figures from World Health Organization on the status of mental health worldwide:154 million people suffer from depression, 25 million from schizophreniia, 800,000 from suicide every year and 46.8 million from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia.
Ubial said they are also studying the inclusion of a mental health package in the country’s national insurance program.
Senator Bam Aquino has filed Senate Bill No. 657 or the Adolescents and Youth Mental Health Program Act to create a mental health program for the youth to reduce the rate of suicide attempts and drug use among young Filipinos.
“We should provide troubled youth with professional support and a place of refuge so they don’t resort to drugs or even suicide,” he said.
The World Health Organization also found that in 2011, 16 percent of Filipino students aged 13 to 15 had contemplated suicide, while 13 percent had attempted suicide.
The bill proposes the creation of a Mental Health Program for the youth aged 15 to 30 years old, to be implemented by the Department of Health, in conjunction with other government agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Commission on Higher Education.
If enacted into law, every public or private educational institution must employ at least one qualified guidance counselor authorized as a mental health practitioner to provide support and advice to students.
Senator Risa Hontiveros also filed last week Senate Bill 1190 or the Mental Health Act of 2016.
