Sangguniang Panglalawigan provincial council members Elizabeth Sio (4th from right) and Rhodora Tan (3rd from right), provincial social w...
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| Sangguniang Panglalawigan provincial council members Elizabeth Sio (4th from right) and Rhodora Tan (3rd from right), provincial social welfare and development officer Sonia Leyson (5th from right) and Ador Culing (4th from left) along with other participants of the committee hearing make the thumbs up sign to signify their commitment to promote the mental health program in Quezon province. (JOHN A. BELLO) |
LUCENA CITY – The Sangguniang Panglalawigan (SP) of Quezon seeks to institutionalize and promote a mental health program for the province to help persons with mental illness and remove the stigma of those afflicted with it.
Provincial 2nd district board member Elizabeth Sio, SP committee on health and sanitation has led a committee hearing on Tuesday to formalize the creation of a technical working group that would assist the Provincial Council on Mental Health Care and Psychosocial Support.
Sio, along with her colleague, 4th district board member Rhodora Tan, sought the support and advice of various resource persons to come up with an effective and efficient mental health program for persons afflicted with mental health problems and their reintegration to their families and communities.
Sio, who authored SP Resolution No.669 which enacts the provincial ordinance creating the provincial council on mental health care and psychosocial support, has first showed in the committee hearing a slide presentation defining mental illness as referring to a wide range of mental health conditions or disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behaviour. Forms of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviours.
Nydia Fermo and Dario Flores, both psychiatrists of the Quezon Medical Center (QMC), have claimed during the committee hearing that Quezon province ranks second to the number of cases of mental illness after the National Capital Region.
When sought for specifics at his OPD office yesterday at the QMC, Flores sought to downplay the number of mental health cases in Quezon province, saying that was 10 yrs. ago while at present only 1 or 2 patients with mild mental health problems come to consult him daily.
Data provided by Daniel Urgelles, electronic field health service information system coordinator at QMC, revealed that there are 5 leading cases of mental morbidity in Quezon. These are neurotic, stress related somatoform disorders with 26 afflicted; schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders with 12; mood disorders with 5; organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders with 1; and unspecified mental disorder with 2, a partial data showed from January to Dec. last year.
Urgelles said their data showed very few cases of persons with mental health problems in the province so he was surprised at the claims made by the Fermo and Flores that Quezon ranks second after the National Capital Region.
At the committee hearing, Ador Culing, technical staff to Vice Gov. Sam Nantes, sought to clarify after learning that Quezon is number 2 in mental health cases after the National Capital Region about the kinds of mental illnesses in the province, their gender, age and causes of those afflicted with mental disorders.
Flores, Fermo and neuro-psychiatrist Dr. Gerardo Salazar have stressed the need for a community-based mental health program as the thrust of the contemporary medical intervention on people with mental health disorders.
They said that mental health institutions and asylums are predominant in the 1960’s but at present, community setting mental health intervention program is better than custodial care which cannot be sustained with government’s lack of funds.
They stressed that treatment and care for mental health cases should move away from asylum and mental institutions to remove the stigma attached to persons with mental disorders.
Flores said not all mental illness is a disability and many persons with mental health problems are still able to carry on with their normal lives with other people.
Dra. Grace Santiago proposed for the creation of the technical working group to report to the council as she revealed that Gov. David Suarez is considering the establishment of a mental health care center in Gumaca and Infanta to take care of those in the areas who are in need of psychiatric help and counselling.
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