SEN. Christopher Lawrence 'Bong' Go backed the call made by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) for additional funding for children's mental health services.

'I support it because the mental health of many of our countrymen was affected by the crisis brought by the pandemic,' the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography said.

The call was made by PhilHealth amid the reported increase in violent incidents and the emergence of mental health problems among school kids.

Go filed Senate Bill (SB) 1786 last January 26, which seeks to mandate public higher education institutions to strengthen their mental health services and to establish Mental Health Offices in their respective campuses.

The measure also proposes to mandate educational institutions to raise awareness on mental health issues, identify and provide support and services for individuals at risk, and facilitate access by developing necessary mechanisms to empower educational institutions in promoting the mental health and wellness of students, faculty, teaching and non-teaching staff, and other personnel.

In line with his commitment to further capacitate the country's health care system, Go again urged PhilHealth to further extend more holistic support to the Filipino people, especially during these challenging times, as he filed SB 190 seeking to mandate PhilHealth to provide free dialysis to all its members.

'That is my priority, and as I have said, we are consistent in increasing the budget for mental health. In 2023, we successfully pushed for a special provision in the 2023 budget for the improvement of benefit packages of PhilHealth, including mental health package,' he said.

JAVIER JOE ISMAEL