P1.7B of 2024 DOH budget marked for preventing noncommunicable diseases

Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. (INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) will have at least P1.707 billion of its 2024 budget allocated for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, the sponsor of the P353 billion budget of the DOH for 2024, confirmed this late Tuesday evening, explaining that P682.7 million of the P1.707 billion allocation would be used to buy “mental health commodities.”

These commodities include various types of medicines, according to her.

“This is 30 medicines that will be accessible in 362 sites and this is projected to expand to 515 access sites. [This is for] 225,000 plus service users identified with mental health conditions,” Cayetano said.

READ: Gov’t warned of onset of ‘mental health pandemic’

READ: Each person’s mental health struggles need personalized solution – DOH

Mental health conditions covered for these include, but are not limited to, the following:

• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• epilepsy
• depression
• anxiety
• psychotic disorder
• dementia

In his interpolation, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III asked how beneficiaries of this initiative were chosen.

Cayetano said beneficiaries had already been “assessed or somehow documented” in health centers, but as long as they were registered patients in the center, they would be assisted.

The provision of medicines, however, is not the lone assistance given in these DOH centers.

Cayetano noted that health experts present at the site were also tasked to conduct counseling, consultation, and treatment if necessary.