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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Saturday, October 28, 2017
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BACOLOD City – The goal is to help people with mental health problems in barangays.
Councilor Ricardo Tan requested the City Health Office, through the Office of the Mayor, to teach barangay health workers of 61 villages in the city detect and assist people suffering from mental health problems.
Tan believes that detection of mental health problems must be done in the barangay level so that they can be treated in their early stages.
Yesterday, the Sangguniang Panlungsod approved Tan’s resolution.
One in every three Filipinos has problem/s on mental health, according to University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine professor emeritus Dr. Lourdes Ignacio.
Ignacio – who received the Geminiano T. de Ocampo Visionary Award for Medical Research 2017 from the National Academy of Science and Technology this October – said her estimate was based on a population survey that the UP-Philippine General Hospital conducted in Western Visayas more than 20 years ago.
Survey results revealed that 36 percent of the region’s population is suffering from mental health problems.
Ignacio added that with the Philippines nearing the 110 population mark, the number of Filipinos who have mental problems may reach 28.48 million.
Mental health problems – including schizophrenia, depression, intellectual disabilities and disorders due to drug abuse – are generally characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts, emotions, behavior, and relationships with others, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Nonetheless, these problems can be successfully treated, the WHO said.
In the country, Ignacio said the scope of the problem can be seen in areas hit by supertyphoon “Yolanda” in 2013, particularly Marabut, Samar and Carles and Estancia, Iloilo.
Ignacio added that only around 4.45 million cases have been detected and given mental health care by public health workers in the country.
Ignacio said Filipinos with mental health problems are those confronted with “extreme life experiences.”
According to Ignacio, these “extreme life experiences” include disasters, violence at home and on streets, terrorism, and armed conflict.
She said the detection of these problems must be intensified to prevent them from developing into psychiatric disorders.
The Senate has passed on its third and final reading Senate Bill No. 1354, or the Mental Health Act of 2017, last May.
The bill would make mental health care services affordable and accessible to Filipinos.
It also aims to provide mental health services down to the barangay level, integrate mental health programs and policies in schools and workplaces, among others
Since Senate’s approval, the bill has been pending in the House of Representatives.
This month, the Department of Health signed an administrative order directing the nationwide implementation of its mental health program./PN
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