The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday maintained that mental health and wellness remained a priority of the department.
The DOH made the comment after former Vice President Leni Robredo lamented the lack of psychiatrists in the Philippines amid the rising number of mental health patients in the country.
"The Department of Health thanks former Vice President Leni Robredo for pointing out that there is a lack of psychiatrists and mental health practitioners not just in the Philippines, but worldwide," DOH Spokesperson Assistant Secretary Dr. Albert Domingo said.
Domingo stressed item number 6 among the 8-point agenda of DOH, which says "Ginhawa sa isip at damdamin" or mental and emotional comfort.
He emphasized that this makes mental health and wellness a priority of the DOH.
He also assured that DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa is working with members of the Philippine Council for Mental Health in this regard.
In a radio interview, Robredo, chairperson and president of Angat Buhay, said the non-government organization noticed the problem after it launched a free teleconsultation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Citing a study, Robredo said 3.6 million Filipinos had problems with mental health even before the pandemic.
"Napansin namin na after Covid, karamihan na pumupunta sa libreng teleconsult platform namin, halos lahat mental health. So parang napunta kami doon. Hindi lahat dahil sa Covid (We noticed that after Covid, most of those who come to our free teleconsult platform, almost all mental health issues. So it seems we ended up there. Not all because of Covid)," she continued.
"Na-realize namin na kailangan ng ating kababayan na may makonsulta tungkol sa mental health. Maraming pasyente pero sobrang kaunti ng ating mental health practitioners (We realized that our countrymen need someone to consult about mental health. There are many patients but we have very few mental health practitioners)," she added.
The Bayanihan E-Konsulta was one of the programs of Robredo at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its volunteers were able to provide mental health services to over 1,000 individuals during the period of the health emergency and has since been carried over to Angat Buhay.
