Former vice president Leni Robredo on Wednesday, April 17, bewailed the lack of psychiatrists in the Philippines, preventing mental health patients from accessing timely help and medication.
Former vice president Leni Robredo (File Photo/MANILA BULLETIN)
Noting that mental health problems are a problem not only in the country but around the world and was worsened by the pandemic, the former official cited that some 3.6 million Filipinos are already suffering from mental health issues even before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Noong bumaba na ‘yung Covid patients, iyong napansin namin karamihan sa mga pasyenteng pumupunta dun sa free teleconsult platform namin lahat mental health, halos lahat mental health (When the number of Covid patients went down, we noticed that most of the patients in our free teleconsult platform have mental health issues),” she said in an interview on Teleradyo Serbisyo.
And while her teleconsult program eventually decided to take in mental health patients, Robredo bemoaned that it was difficult for them because there is a lack of psychiatrists in the country.
“Ngayon, iyong aming—para ang dami naming partners na nagbibigay ng counseling service pero pag ni-refer nila sa psychiatrist, doon iyong napakakonti (Now, our—we have a lot of partners offering counseling service but when we refer them to a psychiatrist, there’s not many of them),” she explained.
“Napakonti ng psychiatrist natin na iyong nasa pila namin ngayon halos 400 patients. Ganun kadami. Ang kwenta namin para ‘yung waitlist niya six months (We have only a few psychiatrists that our waitlist now is almost 400 patients. That’s how many they are. Our estimate is the waitlist is six months),” she added.
To address the needs of mental health patients, Robredo is looking at community-based training for barangay health workers so they can offer counseling services.
By definition, mental health counselors are trained professionals who help assess and treat mental and emotional health disorders, including relationship issues and life challenges.
However, if the patients require medication, only a psychiatrist is allowed to write a prescription.
When she was still vice president, Robredo launched the Bayanihan e-Konsulta program, which invited health and non-health professionals to offer free and voluntary health services to patients through an online platform.
The ex-official continued this program under her non-government organization Angat Buhay, a poverty alleviation project she has started during her term.