5.+Salient+Points+of+House+Bill+6679

**What are the main efforts that are being pushed by this law?** What do the opposing parties say about this Bill?
 * __Guidelines for contributions:__ **
 * What do reputable sources say about this Bill?**
 * What do the main proponents of this law say about this Bill?

__ Mindset: __** **We pick the brains of reputable information sources and first-hand opinion to help us judge this Bill ourselves. Please bear in mind that we will not express our judgment here yet. All things presented here should be facts. If they are opinions, it should be coming from reputable sources such as the lawmakers themselves and mental health institutions.**

Realizing that the country has no sufficient mental health law and funding support and that the mental health programs, facilities, projects and services are not evenly distributed in the country, House Speaker Prospero Nograles and Rep. Arthur Pingoy, Jr. jointly filed a house bill that will establish a "National Mental Health Care Delivery System" and the "Philippine Council for Mental Health." House Bill 6679 aims to enact a national mental health policy and to establish a national mental health care delivery system in the Philippines that is effective—that will deliver appropriate services and interventions, treatments and other essential services to every Filipino with mental illness and or disability.
 * Research by Adrian Jeric G. Peña**

The house bill introduced by Representative Arthur Y. Pingoy, Jr. and House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles acknowledges the basic human right of every Filipino to mental health. Furthermore, the filing of this house bill is a response the 1991 United Nation General Assembly Resolution, which has listed principles for the protection of citizens with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care in the country.

One of the objectives of the said house bill is to “promote a shift from a hospital based system to a strengthened community based mental health care delivery system.” In the Philippines, people with mental disorders or illnesses have been treated in a mental hospital setting for almost 50 years—the social stigma of mental hospitals is that hospitals like the NCMH are only for those who are crazy or people who are mentally deranged (Conde, 2004). Delegating of health services to local governments (LGUs) and barangay level has been proven to be effective as evidenced by successful implementation of the Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160) where the local government units were given the authority to govern the provincial and district hospital; hence, local issues are being handled well and were given proper care and attention for issues varies per locality. Therefore, having a community based mental health care delivery system will greatly improved and rectify the problem in the uneven distribution of appropriate facilities, health care providers, services and interventions, treatments and other essential services regarding mental health within a locality. In addition, the bill also aims to “prevent, treat, and control mental illness at all levels and rehabilitate persons with mental disability.” The bill is further empowering the regional and provincial hospitals, as the bill will require that a psychiatric service (whether long-term or short-term) shall be established in every regional and provincial hospital. This would make mental health care accessible to every Filipino across the archipelago.

Moreover, the bill also aims to “reorient and modernize the existing mental health facilities or institutions.” Facilities and the different equipment of mental health centers including the National Center for Mental Health should be upgraded and in compliance with world-class standards to ensure that each patient is getting the kind of treatment he/she deserves. Furthermore, a modern and world-class facilities and different equipment will not only benefit patient but also the health care providers as this would aid with the proper training they need to be competent in their chosen field. A modern and improved mental health facilities and institutions in the country will give each constituent a comprehensive range of quality mental health services.

As noted in the previous parts of this paper, mental health care has been given low priority in the country. In this regard, the proposed bill also aims to “integrate mental health care in the general health care delivery system” of the country making it part of the “mainstream” health care system of the country. With this, every Filipino will be given the proper mental health care attention and will also be given proper education on mental health that will raise their awareness on the different mental illness plaguing the country.

Presently, the National Mental Health Program (NMHP) of the Department of Health is under the Degenerative Disease Office of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC), a clear evidence that mental health has yet to have it’s own sub-department under the Health department and is being treated as any other disease. With the proposed “National Mental Health Act of 2009,” a Philippine Council for Mental Health will be establish and will be attached to the Department of Health that will look after the implementation and formulation of the National Mental Health Care Delivery System. The Philippine Council for Mental Health will be compose of the Health Secretary, an executive director, three representatives from the government health sector, two representatives from the private health sector, one representative from the academe, and one representative from the nongovernment organizations involved in mental health issues. The President will be appointing the members of the Council as nominated by their respective organizations.

Not only will the bill be considered with the prevention and treatment of mental disorders, it will also deal with research and development in order to develop the appropriate and relevant mental health services to the community. Alongside with research and development, the council will also be responsible for the promotion of mental health.

Moreover, the bill clear states that “any person shall have the right to receive mental health care” that is appropriate to his needs and “shall be entitled to care and treatment….” The bill will ensure that the mental health facilities in the country would have an adequate number of mental health professionals, workers and allied professionals and shall include ample space to provide for each patient. Competent authorities shall ensure that the mental health facilities in the country will comply with the existing regulations through regularly inspection of these facilities.

Reference:

Conde, B. (2004). Philippines Mental Health Profile. International Review of Psychiatry, 1-2(16), 159-166.

//National Mental Health Program | Department of Health//. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2009, from http://www.doh.gov.ph/programs/mental_health

House of Representatives, (2009). //National Mental Health Act of 2009// (House Bill 6679). Quezon City, Metro Manila: Bill Drafting Service.

**Junalyn Camacho** The Bill emphasizes the statistics of the country regarding cases of mental health disorders. It discusses the prevailing causes why Filipinos suffer from depressive mental disorder that affects the entire family and friends of the patient. Philippine government is eager to give attention, medication, and care to mentally-ill patients but it is hampered by reasons such as lack of budget, motivation, and personnel that will man the programs and projects. House Bill 6679 has the objective of providing for a national mental health care delivery system while supplying the appropriate budget for its implementation. It has the intention also of inculcating mental health consciousness to the public. As we observe, the mentally-ill patients are sent to mental hospitals where the population of patients are already huge in number. Risks are: the facilities, attending psychiatrists, medicines, food, psychological training and treatment will not be sufficient for them. Good thing about the house bill is that it proposes to have a community-based mental health care delivery system. This scheme is good for the welfare of the patients, their family, and additional job offer for psychology practitioners and other with related field of studies. By treating patients with mental disorders, the number of homeless mentally-ill patients shall decrease.


 * Liezl:**

The DOH recently assessed the mental health system in the Philippines based on the World Health Organization- Assessment Instrument for Mental Health System and revealed that 5% (an estimated P484 million) of health care expenditures by the DOH are directed towards mental health. 95% of these are spent on the operations of mental health facilities. The National Center for Mental Health in NCR currently serves as the main referral unit for mental illness in the country. There are also psychiatric units in seven DOH-retained hospitals in NCR and psychiatric in-patient regional facilities in 10 of the 17 regions. However, there are no district in-patient facilities in the country and there are also few community mental health services available for the patients (Salazar, 2008). In most areas of the country, the management of patients with mental or psychiatric disorders is centralized in mental hospitals which are overcrowded, isolated and undermanned. These hospitals are not accessible and do not have adequate supply of medications to treat their patients thus unable to provide adequate treatment. In the Philippines community based mental health care is unavailable. In many communities, there are many cases of chronic untreated mentally ill patients who are simply ignored, confined in cells in their homes and some were even tied to posts in their house. Many mentally ill patients roam in the streets and are abused and ridiculed by people. There are also no programs for the community that will address the needs of the mentally ill. This shows that the government gives low priority to the mental health care. The country has no mental health law, no adequate funds for mental health programs and projects and no balanced system of hospital-based and community based mental health service (Nograles & Pingoy, 2009). And this problem is the one being addressed by the National Mental Health Act of 2009. One of the Act’s objectives is “promote a shift from a hospital based system to a strengthened community based mental health care delivery system”. There is now a world-wide recognition that community based mental health care would offer the best effective strategy to reach the high number of population who needs mental health care.

Salazar, T. (2008, May 30). 32% of gov’t employees suffered mental health problem--study. //Inquirer.net//. Accessed from []

Nograles, P. C. & Pingoy, A. Y. (2009). House Bill No. 6679: National Mental Health Act of 2009. Quezon City: House of Representatives.

