The National Center for Mental Health is dedicated to delivering preventive, curative and rehabilitative mental health care

services.It is categorized as Special Research Training Center and Hospital under Department of Health on January 30, 1987. It has an authorized bed capacity of 4,200 inpatients and served an average of 56,000 outpatients per year.

Success rate of direct sputum smear microscopy (DSSM) for AFB among psychiatric patients in a Philippine government Psychiatric healthcare facility
Friday, 10 August 2012 00:00
Paper presented by Dr. BERNADETTE SELUDO, MD, FPSMID, MPH, during the 15th International Conference on Infectious Diseases held in Bangkok, Thailand on June 13-16, 2012.

Background: The transmission rate of pulmonary tuberculosis among patients in mental institutions can be as high as sixteen-times more than that of the general population. Although the Tuberculosis Program (NTP) of the Department of Health (DOH) recommends direct sputum smear microscopy in diagnosing active tuberculosis, chest radiographs remain the primary method for detecting TB in psychiatric patients confined in mental hospitals due to uncooperative/aggressive behavior. The rate of case detection through sputum microscopy in these patients has yet to be determined.This study aims to determine the percentage of patients, admitted in the NCMH-TB Pavilions for the period of June 1, 2010 - May 31, 2011, able to provide adequate sputum samples for the microbiologic diagnosis of tuberculosis.

Last Updated on Friday, 10 August 2012 03:06

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NCMH organizes multi-sectoral consultative meeting on mental health

Written by Tina Guillerme

Wednesday, 30 May 2012 00:00

The National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) conducted a multi-sectoral meeting of experts on mental health on May 9, 2012 at the Pag-Asa Hall, NCMH. The meeting was organized with the objective of coming up with a proposal for a more responsive mental health program, in line with the overall goal of DOH Kalusugang Pangkalahatan to achieve better health outcomes by providing a responsive health system to all Filipinos.