Minister expresses concern over state of psychiatric hospitals
The Minister of State for Health, Mrs Halima Alao, has expressed concern over the poor state of psychiatric hospitals in the country.
Alao, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja, said that one of the worst hit was the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Aro, Abeokuta.
She said the incidence of abandoned patients had gone so bad that those of them that died while receiving treatment were left at the mercy of the hospital.
Due to the experience, Alao said that the hospital had to build a mortuary and carve out a parcel of land where abandoned patients who died under such circumstances were committed to mother earth.
Apart from the facility, Alao said that seven other psychiatric hospitals were undergoing ``harrowing'' experiences caused by a large number of abandoned cases.
The main problem, she said, was that the huge expenses for the treatment and feeding of the abandoned patients were left to the federal government.
``We have to shoulder the responsibility because we can not just abandon them.
This is disheartening. ``It is stigmatization that is making people to abandon their psychiatric relations in hospitals.
There is need for attitudinal change.
``It is very unfair on government. Africans are known to be their brothers' keeper. We need a change in attitude. Nigerians need sensitization. Psychiatric patients need people to console them,'' she said.
Alao said that with a high number of abandoned patients, the problem of bed space for new intake remained a problem, just as facilities and resources of the hospitals were overstretched.
``They are filled to the brim because of a large
percentage of abandoned patients,'' she said, adding that information on the number of abandoned patients and how much had been spent on their feeding was not available.
On the supervision of federal government owned facilities, she said that a lot of improvement had been recorded in the area, as it was no longer the case of reading reportssent to the ministry by the hospitals.
Alao said that much more frequent visits were
being paid to the hospitals as experienced when she visited 21 facilities between February and August last year brought about the need for anon-the-spot assessment.
Speaking on the new Health Promotion Policy approved at the last 50th session of National Council for Health which held last week in Abuja, Alao said that the essence was to involve everybody.
She said that the key areas that needed collaboration for the implementation of the policy include community based organisations for cleaner environment, first aid, immunisation and TB control.
Alao said that individuals had a lot of responsibility toward their health status, implying that the media should be involved in enlightenment programmes.