No mental hospital crisis — DOH

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said yesterday there are enough psychiatric facilities in the country that can absorb health workers and patients of the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) that might be displaced when the sale of the hospital pushes through.

Citing reports of NCMH director Dr. Bernardino Vicente, Dayrit noted that since 1968, there have been several mental hospitals put up around the country as part of efforts to decentralize NCMH.

"According to Dr. Vicente, the decentralization (of NCMH) started as early as 1968. There are now mental hospitals in almost all regions," he told The STAR. Some of such facilities are in Bataan, Cavite and Davao.

Dayrit added that NCMH will not be totally closed down as NCMH management is now looking for a site where the facility could be relocated.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is bidding out this month a large portion of the 118-hectare Welfareville lot in Mandaluyong City where the hospital is situated.

The sale mandated by Republic Act 5260 that was approved in 1968 in fulfillment of the Philippine government’s agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund and World Health Organization to finance programs for the protection of the rights of the children.

Under the law, the proceeds of the sale will go the DSWD which will implement the pro-children programs nationwide.

But Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) president Emma Manuel said the sale will cause the displacement of 2,000 health workers and 4,000 mental patients of the NCMH.

Manuel belied Dayrit’s pronouncement that there are enough psychiatric facilities nationwide, claiming that many mental patients in the provinces are still being brought to NCMH because of lack of psychiatric facilities there.

"We just hope that the government will not sacrifice the health and welfare of the patients just to earn money. They are not ordinary patients. They need specialized care. We got the information that the Welfareville lot will be converted into malls by the interested bidders," Manuel said.

NCMH workers staged a rally at the DSWD office in Quezon City and DOH office in Manila last Friday to kick off a series of protest actions against the sale.

DSWD director for Assets and Management Suzette Agcaoili maintained that the DSWD was only implementing the provisions of RA 5260.

Agcaoili assured that the sale will benefit many Filipino children in terms of health and education programs and protection against abuses and exploitation and that proper accounting and auditing will be observed in bidding out the property.

The NCMH will be phased out within a three-year period.

According to Dayrit, the decentralization of the NCMH was even "reiterated" when Marcos issued Presidential Decree 1541 in 1978. The decree seeks the establishment of mental health facilities in regional hospitals.

Dayrit added the move will not only declog the NCMH but will bring mental patients, especially those that come from provinces, closer to their relatives.