The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Friday encouraged Filipinos to make full use of the government’s mental health care packages.

Under the New Outpatient Mental Health Package, both members and non-members may receive P9,000 for the general mental health package and P16,000 for the specialty mental health package.

“Isa po sa mga nagiging challenge natin for health is the mental health problem. May mga naririnig naman po kayo mga kapitbahay, mga kamag-anak, mga kaskwela na nagkakaroon ng mga mental health problems. PhilHealth has answered the clarion's call at nagkaroon na po tayo ng mental health package,” PhilHealth Vice President for Corporate Affairs Group Walter “Waway” Bacareza said during a media forum in Pasig City.

Bacareza also urged doctors and general practitioners to undergo training under the state health insurer’s Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP).

“Ang challenge po natin dito is for our doctors and general practitioners na magpa-train po ng mhGAP sa Department of Health (DOH) para magpa-accredit na po sa PhilHealth. Para po ‘yung mga kabataan natin may mapuntahan na po for mental health problems,” he added.

The DOH has so far trained 3,000 doctors under mhGAP, but only 100 of them have been accredited by PhilHealth.

Bacareza also noted that PhilHealth has partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) to address mental health concerns among learners.

“We already have a memorandum of agreement with DepEd,” he said.

The PhilHealth executive added that the state insurer has increased and improved many of its benefit packages to help meet the challenges facing the Philippine health system.