Cebu hospitals eyed as rehab centers

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Health-7 and the Capitol are exploring the possibility of developing Cebu's 16 provincial and district hospitals into treatment and rehabilitation centers for drug surrenderers.

DOH-7 director Jaime Bernadas said the expansion and development of rehab centers will help address the lack of TRCs in the province.

"We already talked with Governor and he is also trying to explore the proposed expansion of TRCs. He will also evaluate very closely if there's a need to add more in as much for the acute stages na talaga kukulangin," he said.

In case the proposal won't prosper, he said the government and police are also in talks about using police and administrative camps as temporary TRCs.

Governor Hilario Davide III, for his part, welcomed the proposal.

"That's good news. We really need more facilities," he said, adding that private rehab centers are also open to cater drug surrenderers.

However, their servi-ces cost more than those of government-run facilities.

 Aside from the social health insurance, Bernadas said substance abuse, mental health, and capacity training for the community-based treatment and rehab are among the health thrusts of the Duterte administration. Those who will be trained are health workers, social workers and other private sectors.

He said the drug surrenderers will be assessed and screened whether they will be enrolled to the outpatient rehab program or be admitted to rehab faci-lities.

He said the PhilHealth reportedly has started covering the acute phase of rehabilitation, but the DOH has yet to see the guidelines and official document. He defines the acute phase as the first six weeks of treatment.

"The patient with drug dependency will have acute forms of psychosis and psychosocial problem. Some may resort to violence, hallucination and all these things. These are the acute phase of treatment that should be addressed in a facility or mental facility," he said.

But the problem is the lack of government drug facilities. The cost in a private facility is even staggering at a range of P18,000 to P40,000.

Data from the DOH-Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau showed that there are only four existing DOH-accredited drug rehabilitation and treatment centers in Cebu province while none in Bohol and Siquijor.

Two of the three centers are the government-run Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Argao town, Cebu that caters to male clients only; and Eversley Childs Sanita-rium in Barangay Jagobiao, Mandaue City, which serves the rehabilitation needs of female drug dependents.

Rustum Fanugao Jr., Argao facility's health program officer, earlier said that the 50-bed capa-city facility is accommodating at least 99 patients for treatment. Eversley, on the other hand, can only cater up to 25 patients.

But, Bernadas said yesterday that patients in Argao have now reached to almost 200.

The abrupt influx of drug surrenderers has prompted the government to expand both rehab facilities.

"If you visit TRC Argao you will see ongoing construction and expansion. It is being expanded to accommodate more patients," he said.

He said the government has allocated at least P5 million for each TRC, while the regional office funds for the massive training on community-based rehab.

Fanugao said that with the limited space, some patients are occupying the dorm area intended for the health staff.

The facility's bed capacity will be increased to 200 but construction is still underway and is expected to be finished by September.

Fanugao said the patient will have to undergo seven months of in-house rehabilitation. Once completed, they will still be monitored for at least 18 months for the post-assessment outside the facility that includes random drug tests and several recovery program sessions.

The seven-month program will cost every patient P5,000 monthly compared to private institutions' charges which range from P10,000 to P45,000.

The other three centers are non-government institutions: Cebu North General Hospital Chemical Dependent's Control and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu City; House of Hope, Inc. in Lapu-Lapu City; and Roads and Bridges to Recovery in Mandaue City.

Licenses

Bernadas said they have already renewed all the operational licenses of the 16 provincial and district hospitals in the province.

He clarified that the status of some of the hospitals was not downgraded and instead reclassified.

"There was a reclassification of hospitals from the primary, secondary and tertiary to 1,2 3,4 and 5 levels. Ang level 1 kaniadto is secondary hospitals. Ang level 5 karon specialty research hospitals while ang level 2 is a departmentalized hospital; level 3 are those with training program and le-vel 4 is like VSMMC, naa'y training and research," he explained.

Provincial hospitals are the Carcar Provincial Hospital, Danao Provincial Hospital, Bogo Provincial Hospital, and Balamban Provincial Hospital. District hospitals, on the other hand, are in Minglanilla, Tuburan, Sogod, Daanbantayan, Pinamungajan, Oslob, Argao, Badian, Barili, Camotes Islands, Bantayan Island and Malabuyoc. (FREEMAN)