The Department of Health (DOH) should lead a nationwide study that would enable the government to gauge the status of Filipinos’ mental health.
Senator Francis Escudero said a DOH-led comprehensive study would enable the government to get a bigger picture of the current mental health state of Filipinos.
Escudero said the move will also supplement the recent survey conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the mental health of elementary and high school students.
The senator pointed out he has been calling for a similar study since early 2021 to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to the mental state of Filipinos.
At the time, he noted there were already reports of people, both students and workers, experiencing clinical depression and even suicides.
“During the middle of the pandemic in 2021, although I was still governor at the time, what I proposed was that the government should look at the various mental health issues that our countrymen are facing—elementary, high school, college or working— because the impact caused by the pandemic, especially the lockdowns, is great on our countrymen," Escudero said.
“It has been two years and I have yet to see a comprehensive study on this subject,” he said.
“So it appears that we have a problem with elementary and high school students because those are the only ones with data and studies that have been done," Escudero added.
But ordinary Filipinos from various sectors, working or unemployed, should also be included in the study.
“It is important to get that data so that we know how we can create a remedy or solution to this problem,” the lawmaker stressed.
In a Senate hearing last week, DepEd officials said there were 404 students who died by suicide during the Academic Year 2021-2022 while some 2,147 attempted suicides were recorded.
A DepEd representative at the Senate Committee on Basic Education hearing also informed senators that the worst might not be over since 100-percent in-person classes for public and private schools only resumed in November after two years of remote learning.
“The data we have found is not enough. This is my call: the DOH should look at the current mental health situation in our country, not only among students—elementary, high school or college," said Escudero, who chairs the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education.
The senator has also been pushing for a wider coverage of the Universal Health Care (UHC) program to include the promotion of mental health, and not just the treatment of mental health-related issues.