The Mandaluyong City local government launched on Monday, October 14, new programs aimed at promoting awareness on mental health issues and ensuring the mental health quality of its residents, particularly of its youth.
In celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month, Mandaluyong City Mayor Ben Abalos led the launch of the Mandaluyong City Mental Health Council and Blue Desk which will spearhead the city's mental health-centered initiatives.
Abalos explained the council is comprised of various offices of the city hall, education sector, police, and all barangays in the city.
Aside from the Mandaluyong City Mental Health Council and Blue Desk, the city government also launched its Sagip BALISA (Bantayan at Alamin ang Laman ng Isip at Saloobing may Alinlangan) Program to help Mandaleños on their mental health problems.
In 2021, the city partnered with National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) as both parties vowed to support one another in promoting mental health and in creating more programs to help the mentally challenged.
The NCMH is a 4,200-bed psychiatric hospital occupying 47 hectares of land in the city of Mandaluyong.
Formerly known as the Insular Psychopathic Hospital, the Mandaluyong Mental Hospital, and the National Mental Hospital, NCMH was established in December of 1928.
It was founded in order to accommodate the increasing number of mental patients and other patients with related nervous system conditions who, in 1925, were being taken care of by two hospitals, namely the San Lazaro Hospital (in its "Insane Department") and the City Sanitarium in the Philippines.