Senator Lito Lapid stressed on Tuesday that gathering of reports on drug overdose trends will open opportunities for the strategic formulation and planning to effectively address narcosis issues in the country.

This comes as he filed Senate Bill 1498 which seeks to create a "Drug Overdose Reporting and Awareness system" in the Philippines.

Under the proposed measure, the Secretary of Health will be required to publish bi-annually findings on the nation's drug overdose trends, followed by the review of overdose death rates and other information on the cause and rates of fatal drug overdoses.

If passed, the measure will push for the strategic formulation of programs and policies to be undertaken by the health department "to effectively address" the problems of drug overdose in the country.

"The issue of drug overdose should not be neglected because some of our fellow countrymen died because of it, that's why I am pushing for an awareness campaign on this matter," Lapid said.

The measure also seeks to mandate the Department of Health to push for interventions that would effectively reduce the rate of drug overdose.

The reported information will include the trends in drug overdose deaths; trends in emergency room utilization for the treatment of drug overdose; trends in utilization of pre-hospital and emergency services and the cost of emergency services utilization for drug overdose; suggested improvements in data collection; and a description of education efforts and other interventions that would be effective in reducing the rate of a drug overdose.

The DoH will also be required to provide an annual advisory to the municipal, city, and provincial officials about the prevalence of drug overdose incidents; trends in drug overdose incidents; as well as to campaign for best practices and strategies for addressing drug overdose in their jurisdiction.