The joint committees on Laws, Ordinances and Judiciary, and Health outlined in the public hearing held last August 27 that awareness, education and greater community participation are the keys for dealing with challenges to mental health especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authored by Councilor Jose Netu N. Tamayo, draft ordinance number O-769 entitled, “AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR A COMMUNITY-BASED MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM AND DELIVERY SYSTEM IN DAGUPAN CITY AND APPROPRIATING THE NECESSARY FUNDS THEREFOR” sought inputs from a broad spectrum of the general community as it highlighted the need for the city government to include mental health in the public health and hospital system in order to render available, accessible, affordable, and equitable quality mental health care and services to the constituents of the city especially the poor, the underserved and high risk population.
He said the city mayor, in a formal report to the city, signified his intention to establish a city hospital. Tamayo said he would bat for the strengthening the mental health program of the city and its inclusion among the health services to be offered in the proposed new facility
“But patient care must continue beyond institutional facilities, and must be made available in health centers and homes, and relevant health care activities and interventions must be done closest to where the need or the patient is,” he said.
