“Kinamusta niyo na po ba ang katabi ninyo? Ano ang usual na sagot? Okay lang, pero baka deep inside, they’re not. The problem with the stigma is that kahit nahihirapan na, kailangan na ng tulong, but because of the stigma and fear, they don’t ask for help.”
This was how the Head of the Public Health Unit at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH), Atty. Jose Marie P. Iporac addressed the common state of mental health in the Philippines while discussing the capacity and the current state of the NCMH during his talk at the launch of Project Stigma at the University Hotel, UP Diliman, Quezon City.
Iporac shared the mandate of the NCMH, framed through Republic Act No. 11036, or the Philippine Mental Health Law, that sets the NCMH as a premier training and research center. The Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, or Republic Act No. 11223, also sets them as a national specialty center for mental health, and finally, through the framework of the Department of Health (DOH), the country’s apex or end-referral facility for mental health care.
These set the NCMH as the main mental healthcare facility in the country.
But with such high demands, Iporac said the NCMH is under strain. The 5-year admission chart showed that from 2021–2022 up to 2023–2024, 6,000 admissions were recorded — not counting the more in the outpatient services, with bed capacity at 70%–90% (4,200 beds). He also shared that the nurse-to-patient ratio from 2021 was at 1:30 service users.
A drop in the last few years only returned to 1:27 in 2024. This led to a concern that due to the lack of manpower, service quality might slip across 44 pavilions and 38 administrative structures in their compound in Mandaluyong.
He noted that beyond the nurse staffing issue, data showed several doctors are transitioning to regional hospitals — a double-edged sword, as this allows localized mental health care at the regional level, but is also leaving the NCMH without caregivers.
But it wasn’t all bleak. He said that the NCMH is currently capacitating a network of mental health facilities in the country to allow broader reach, but emphasizes the reality that this is a slow process.
In the end, Atty. Iporac said, “Kaya nandoon ang NCMH along with the funders of Project Stigma. Kami po ay sumusuporta at makakasama ninyo sa pag-provide ng data to support lobbying — para maiparamdam natin kung gaano kahalaga ang mental health.”
