The Catholic bishops’ Episcopal Commission on Health Care appealed to President Benigno Aquino today to reintroduce a program that provided beds for patients in state psychiatric hospitals.

Father Luke Moortgat, executive director of the commission, said the initiative introduced by former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stopped when Aquino took power last year.

“Unknown to most Filipinos, there are many people in our psychiatric hospitals who sleep on [the] floor, the hard, cold concrete,” Father Moortgat said.

“We know people on the streets sleep on the floor, but in psychiatric hospitals? We want a bed for every patient,” the priest demanded.

Father Moortgat said the previous administration had only provided 80 beds before the change in government halted the project.

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