40 mentally-ill inmates get treatment: warden
Forty inmates of the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center who are suffering from psychiatric problems are being given medical treatment, IRC warden Soteo Gardose said.
Gardose said these inmates are assigned in separate lock-up cells to prevent them from harming other detainees.
“They have constant medical check-ups at the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao district,” he said.
The IRC has 736 inmates.
Gardose said these inmates are suffering from psychological problems because of depression and homesickness.
Majority of these inmates were already ill before detention and their situation got worse inside the jail.
Gardose, however, said the number of inmates with psychiatric problems has lowered from 52 last year because some of them were already cured.
Only last week, two inmates previously sent to the National Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong City have returned to the IRC after completing their treatment.
Gardose said the court ordered the IRC to fetch the prisoners from the NCMH.
PSYCHO TESTS
To test their psychological problem, inmates undergo a series of psychological and medical check-ups with doctors from the Psychiatric Department of the WVMC.
The physicians will then recommend to the court what can be done to the inmates with psychiatric problems.
Gardose said that upon approval, the court will issue an order to the IRC regarding the transfer of these inmates to the NCMH for further treatment.
After the treatment, the NCMH will submit a recommendation to the court on whether the inmates are already prepared to face their case trials.*
