Dads tackle plan to open mental, rehab centers in CDO

• Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=905337
• Tuesday, July 19, 2016

(PNA), PGL/CD

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 19 (PNA) -- Local officials here started to tackle plans to operate a mental facility and a rehabilitation center in this port capital of about 800,000 people in Northern Mindanao.

City Councilor Reuben Daba, chair of the city council committee on social services, said that the city has inadequate facilities to process and rehabilitate persons with mental problems.

Daba also noted that the local police has no facilities to process individuals with drug related problems who voluntarily give up at the height of the anti-illegal drug campaign here.

During the committee meeting, Dr. Evelyn Perez, of the city hospital here, said that the city J. R. Borja General Hospital was not equipped to accommodate drug related cases because the treatment of drug dependent patients requires a large space.

A representative of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO), said that 3,884 drug personalities voluntarily surrendered in response of the “Oplan Tokhang” (Toktok Hangyo/Knock and Appeal) operations conducted by the local police here.

Doctors also told the committee that the treatment of the drug dependents and mental patients is not the same.

City Health Officer Dr. Rachel Dilla said that a drug user starts as a normal person, but eventually suffers from brain damage while those who were mentally ill could still become normal through adequate treatment.

Dilla said that a separate facility for mentally ill patients is needed because they have to be hospitalized while drug dependents need a rehabilitation center where doctors could supervise for the withdrawal treatment from drug dependency.