PHILIPPINES
Unionized health workers save mental health center
By Hillel Cohen
Unionized health workers in Manila, the
Philippines, have won a major victory against privatization and
cutbacks of health services. Members of the Alli ance of Health
Workers (AHW) joined with community residents and progressive
organizations to freeze the sale of the only major mental
health facility in the country.
Although the struggle continues to make the freeze
permanent, the government's attempt to quickly push through a
sale has been blocked.
The National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) celebrated its
75th anniversary this past December. With more than 4,000
in-patients and 300 out-patients each day, the center services
patients from Metro Manila and from provinces throughout the
Philippines that don't have adequate local facilities. Patients
are primarily from poor, working class families who cannot
afford private services.
Over the years, this public institution has raised fees in
response to government cutbacks. Even at the subsidized rates,
many people cannot afford to use it. None theless, it is one of
the few places where poor people with mental health problems
can go.
The National Center sits on a large parcel of land in Manda
luyong City, a jurisdiction within the greater Manila area.
Using the excuse of a bankrupt treasury, the national
government planned to sell the property to private developers.
The developers would replace almost all of the mental health
center with shopping malls, condominiums and other commercial
ventures.
The plan would have used some money to build a new facility
that would house only 1,000 of the 4,000 current in-patients.
Other patients would be distributed to local hospitals or
encouraged to go back to family residences.
The AHW countered that there was no guarantee the new
facility would ever be built; that local hospitals did not have
either the space or the money; and that families cannot cope
with these patients, which is why they came to the NCMH in the
first place. The union organized rallies, protests and
petitions to stop the closing.
As a result of the worker-community campaign, the government
of President Gloria Maca pagal Arroyo announced on Dec. 12 a
freeze on the plan to sell the center.
Philippine Congressperson Satur C. Ocampo, a member of the
House committee on health, has introduced legislation to
permanently halt the sale. Ocampo is a leader of the Bayan Muna
Party List and a legendary figure in the Philippine
anti-imperialist movement.
While not yet complete, the struggle to stop the sale of
NCMH is an important victory over the privatization of
healthcare, which in turn is part of the twin challenges of
globalization and war. The victory will inspire other workers
to join in a united struggle against government cutbacks and
war, which the Filipino health workers see as part of a larger,
global struggle against imperialism.
In November 2003, while visiting Manila as part of a Con
ference on Challenges in Health Work Amidst Globalization and
War, Cohen toured the NCMH and met with union leaders and NCMH
workers planning the protests.
Reprinted from the Jan. 8, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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