Functioning Mental Health Unit high on Ministry’s agenda

Aug 09, 2015 News

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The Ministry of Public Health is currently without a functioning Mental Health Unit, a state of affairs that Senior Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, is keen on addressing at the soonest possible time.
And support to have such a unit established and operational has been committed to by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).
At a recent meeting, PAHO officials spoke of plans to work with the Public Health Ministry to complete a Mental Health Strategy and have it operationalised, using work plans executed by a Mental Health Unit.
Speaking of plans to revitalise the work of the Ministry’s Mental Health Unit, which this publication understands has been non-existent for quite some time despite increasing mental challenges, Minister Norton stressed that the support of PAHO, in this regard, is most welcomed.
“I don’t know if it was just coincidental that the officer from PAHO was visiting to do that cost evaluation of our Mental Health Unit when we happened to be experiencing that situation,” mentioned Minister Norton, who was at the time alluding to a peaking suicide rate in the Region One community of Baramita.
Suicide rates on a national level have reached troubling proportions in recent years, a development that requires that a Mental Health Unit be a priority, the Minister noted.

“We have got to get that Mental Health Unit functioning. It is time. It is good to see what is in place; what is on hardcopy,” said the Minister as he observed that there is need for active implementation of initiatives to tackle mental health challenges.
He however noted that even without a functioning Unit there have been some individuals who have been helping to ensure that some semblance of Mental Health services are provided.
“We have got somebody who is doing voluntary work for the last couple of weeks; it is somebody who is well informed, who is well qualified (and) has the enthusiasm,” said the Minister, as he attempted to fathom how it was possible for the public health sector to not have a functioning Mental Health Unit all along.
“When you sit and talk to people, you want to know why we did not put this Unit in action…What was keeping us back?” the Minister remarked disbelievingly, as he disclosed that many persons have voiced some plausible ideas that could help to boost the Unit’s operation. Among these have been suggestions to have the mental health area of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation transformed into an inpatient unit catering to patients with mental illnesses.
The need for a national reach by taking advantage of the primary health care approach has also been gaining the attention of the Minister. The latter mode, he is convinced, could serve to ensure that people across the country have access to the very crucial mental health service by trained personnel.
“I think it’s an area we must operationalise; we must put more emphasis on,” said Dr. Norton as he committed to taking necessary action to have a functioning Mental Health Unit materialise.
Just recently a team from the Health Ministry were exposed to a fellowship in Grenada, and, according to the Minister, efforts were made then to highlight Guyana’s plans to revamp its Mental Health Programme.
“That team was able to go out there and was able to say to their colleagues there (Grenada) that we have a plan in place and it is going to work…it is practical, and with support we don’t see it not being successful.”
An individual’s mental health is regarded as their psychological and emotional well-being. Moreover, mental health illness translates to conditions that affect behaviour, mood and thinking.  These include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictions.
Since last year, the then Ministry of Health had announced that  it was preparing to craft a new Mental Health Strategic Plan, even as it seeks to keenly collaborate with technical partners, the likes of PAHO/WHO and a wide cross-section of stakeholders.
A consultation to solicit the input of various stakeholders was convened in November at the Ocean View International Hotel, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. The event was spearheaded by the Ministry of Health and PAHO/WHO.
It was at this forum that PAHO’s Dr. Jorge Rodriguez-Sanchez, in alluding specifically to the Mental Health situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, disclosed that the burden of mental health can be enormous.  He was at the time making a presentation on the Global Mental Health Plan 2013-2020.
In his deliberations, Dr Rodriguez-Sanchez disclosed that 65.5 per cent of the countries in the Region have a national mental health plan and 74 per cent of these were either approved or revised in 2005 or later.
He went on to note, too, that while 56.3 per cent of the countries under scrutiny have in place legislation on mental health, in many cases these laws are incomplete and do not meet international standards. This is compounded by the fact, he outlined, that psychoactive drugs are not within the reach of the population, a state of affairs that is compounded by the fact that some countries have major limitations in their information systems regarding mental health information-gathering.
In fact, Dr. Rodriguez-Sanchez asserted that in this part of the world the Primary Health Care teams are oftentimes not prepared to handle mental health problems, even as he highlighted that mental health services for children and adolescent are very limited.
In underscoring also that there are few actions in place to promote and prevent mental health, the Specialist spoke of research in this regard being poor or non-existent, even as he pointed out that some countries are also faced with a situation where mental health protection of the vulnerable populations is not a clear priority.

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