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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Davao eyes city mental health arm

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DAVAO CITY—The City Council is planning to establish a Mental Health Division under the City Health Office to help cure those who have mental problems.

Councilor Mary Joselle Villafuerte, the committee chair on health, said the division “will cover all those who need psychological treatment to avoid escalating their illness.”

The division would also give free medication to all kinds of mental diseases, Villafuerte added.

“We really want to give out free medicines and to ensure that the treatment will not only be (for) acute (patients) but the goal is to make them well,” she said.

Villafuerte said the mental health ordinance also passed the city council’s first reading, and is now on the committee hearing level.

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“On October 12, we will have a meeting together with the different concerned agencies like the CHO, City Social Services and Development Office, Central 911 and Davao City Police Office, among others, to identify their role in the establishment of the mental health division,” she said.

Based on their initial meeting, the agencies have agreed that the division will be needing a halfway house for people with mental problems and those who have been abandoned by their families.

Villafuerte, a doctor by profession, said the most common cause of mental problem is depression and stress.

“These can be easily treated by mental health professionals through counseling and medication. We have to help them so that they can go back to their normal lives,” she said.

“There are so many kinds of mental diseases, and some can be cured at home, so those who do not need confinement may take medication at home through the supervision of the barangay psychologists,” the councilor added.

Villafuerte hopes the ordinance will be passed on its third reading next month so that funding for the division will be included in next year’s budget. 

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