THE PHILIPPINES lags in mental health care due to poor enforcement of its laws, as well as the lack of psychologists in the country, experts said at the weekend.
“We have fewer than 3,000 psychologists in the country,” Arsenio S. Alianan, Jr., associate director of the Ateneo Bulatao Center, said in a video interview.
He cited the lack of scholarships available to students who wish to take up a psychology degree, as well as the shortage of psychologist positions in government hospitals. The cost of mental health services has also increased.
Alyanna Lagasaca, national secretary-general of Youth for Mental Health Coalition, Inc. cited unreported mental health cases especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Mental Health Act was signed in 2017 to make mental health services more accessible to the public. The National Center for Mental Health got a P2.15-billion budget this year, while the Mariveles Mental Wellness and General Hospital got P466.6 million. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz