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AGENDA 5

BEST PRACTICE IN CARING FOR THE AGED, DEMENTIA and

PSYCHIATRIC INMATE

o Caring for Dementia and Psychiatric Persons Deprived of

Liberty (PDL)
The New Bilibid Prison Hospital (NBPH) in Muntinlupa has its own
Psychiatric Ward (Ward IV), manned by a Medical Officer III, with
in-service training at the National Center for Mental Health. She is
being assisted by Nurses with rotation duty every three (3) months.

From January to October 2017, a total of One Hundred Seventy

Two (172) Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) have been admitted
at NBPH Psychiatric Ward. The oldest patient is Seventy-four (74)
years old, diagnosed with Seizure Disorder. Nine (9) other patients
are with ranging to sixty (60) years old and above were also
confined thereat.

Seventy Six (76) were discharged and Ninety Six (96) are still
undergoing treatment.

• 10% of the admitted PDLs are with Dementia

AGENDA 5 BEST PRACTICE IN CARING FOR THE AGED, DEMENTIA

AND PSYCHIATRIC INMATE
PHILIPPINES
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• 80 -90% are with Schizophrenia.

• BuCor Ward IV (Special Living Areas, design and operation) for said
patients are not suited for psychiatric patients

The health staff in-charge of the ward do their regular rounds to

assess the regular medications and to monitor their improvement.
From time to time, they give simple lectures on hygiene and other
topics.

After several months of treatment, some PDLs are transferred to a

secured Psychiatric Hospital if they do not respond to treatment and
medications provided by NBPH.

o Other Health Services

• A close coordination with health stakeholders particularly the
International Committee of the Red Cross to help arrest PTB
among PDLs.
• Entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with Ospital Ng
Muntinlupa and Perpetual Help Dalta to cater to the medical
needs of inmates whose cases cannot be managed at the NBP
Hospital.
• Continuous enrollment of inmates Senior Citizen to OSCA and
Philhealth.

AGENDA 5 BEST PRACTICE IN CARING FOR THE AGED, DEMENTIA

AND PSYCHIATRIC INMATE
PHILIPPINES
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Insufficient Provision of Basic Needs

• Adverse economic conditions have significantly affected the

delivery of even the most basic prison services such as provision
of basic needs and health care.
• At present, food subsistence is P60.00/inmate/day or 1.18 USD
for food. Food and nutritional content in terms of caloric values
was considered the main parameter in the bidding process
(2,000 calories per inmate per day diet) to get the best food
P60.00 or 1.18 USD could buy.

Other Sources of Nutrition are the following:

• Communal meal or colloquially termed as “rancho” as the main

source provided by the government.
• Inmate Post Exchange - a central supply of commodities where
inmates can purchase inside the prison camps.
• Food brought in by visitors , but only limited quantity enough to last
in a day or two
• Feeding Program, Food Donations from Religious Volunteer Groups
and other private entities

AGENDA 5 BEST PRACTICE IN CARING FOR THE AGED, DEMENTIA

AND PSYCHIATRIC INMATE
PHILIPPINES
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The New Bilibid Prison (NBP) Minimum Security Camp in Muntinlupa City,
takes custody and safekeeping of PDLs with age ranging from 60 above. A
total of 274 Old Age PDLs are now house at the Minimum Security Camp,
Muntinlupa City with the following age breakdown:

60 – 69 years old . . . . . . . . 118

70 – 79 years old . . . . . . . . 138
80 - 89 years old . . . . . . . . 16
90 – 94 years old . . . . . . . . 2
Bureauwide, a total of 2,917 PDLs are now confined at the Bureau of
Corrections (BuCor) distributed in the seven (7) Operating Prison & Penal
Farms(OPPFs) strategically located nationwide.

o Other Initiatives

PDLs are segregated according to age. A concreted pathway and

stairway with railing was constructed to aid the aged PDLs in their
daily movements. Also, a common cooking area with roof “Kusina ni
Lolo 1 & 2, was provided. The “Bantay Kalusugan Program” , was also
implemented to ensure monitoring of their health status. A Prison
Guard, in addition to safekeeping to his functions shall monitor the
health status of the old age PDLs. This is with the aid of another
PDL assigned in each dormitory.

AGENDA 5 BEST PRACTICE IN CARING FOR THE AGED, DEMENTIA

AND PSYCHIATRIC INMATE
PHILIPPINES