Mental Health Act: Sonny Angara Seeks To Amend The Bill

Angara wants to amend the Mental Health Act

Senator Sonny Angara aims to amend the Mental Health Act through the bill that he filed on Monday.

The lawmaker wanted to add a section focusing on providing immediate benefits and/or financial assistance to people who are sustaining temporary or permanent mental disability while doing their duties.

Those people who are availing the mental care health services will, under the proposed bill, will receive compensation benefits and/or any special financial assistance while in the performance of duty.

mental health act sonny angara
📷: Interaksyon

“People with mental health conditions should have access to affordable essential health services, at all levels of the national healthcare system,” the Senator said, based on the report from GMA News Online.

The lawmaker cited the incident that happened to former Army Corporal Winston Ragos who was shot dead by a police officer last April. According to Ragos’s sister, the former soldier suffered from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Reportedly, the former military man has a gun in his sling bag and did not follow the order of the policeman who told him to raise his hand.

He also said that the MHA should be revisited, reexamined, and realigned the mental health services, although there are entities helping to address this problem because of what happened to Ragos.

“As the case of Corporal Ragos has shown us, some of the existing policies and guidelines need updates to better serve our men in uniform,” Angara also said.

Based on the report, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has the task to give insurance packages to mental health patients and ensure that they can get the medicines they need, as it was stated under the Mental Health Act.

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