National Center for Mental Health

The National Center for Mental Health (Pambansang Sentro ng Pangkaisipang Kalusugan), is a 4,200-bed psychiatric hospital occupying 47 hectares of land in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is PhilHealth-accredited.

History
Formerly known as the Insular Psychopathic Hospital, the Mandaluyong Mental Hospital, and the National Mental Hospital, was established on 17 December 1928. It was founded in order to accommodate the increasing number of mental patients and other patients with related nervous system conditions who, in 1925, were being taken care of by two hospitals, namely the San Lazaro Hospital (in its "Insane Department") and the City Sanitarium in the Philippines.

The insane asylum hospital was built under Philippine Public Works Act No. 3258 at a 46 ha location in Barrio Mauway, Mandaluyong, Rizal near the City of Manila. Patients from the San Lazaro Hospital were transferred to the National Center for Mental Health in 1928. Patients from the City Sanitarium were transferred in 1935. The National Center for Mental Health is currently under the Department of Health.

With the increasing number of patients being admitted, the center has resorted to soliciting donations from private sectors.

Controversy
Controversy erupted at the hospital in 2012 because of the unexpected death of a 41-year-old male patient. The patient was confined in the hospital since 1998 due to paranoid schizophrenia attributed to drug abuse. The National Bureau of Investigation got involved, but the question remains whether the death was a medico-legal or homicide case.