NGO wants FG to establish 6 mental health assessment centres

An NGO, Mandate Health Empowerment Initiative (MHEI), on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to establish mental health assessment centre in each of the six geo-political zones of the country.

Mr Ameh Zion, the President of the organisation, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Zion said that reported cases of suicide and attempted suicide were on a steady rise, urging the Federal Government to do something expedient to address the situation.

He said that the centres would enable the citizens to have easy access to first hand medical and professional assistance to get the needed help in managing their problems.

Zion said, “We call on the Federal Government to see the need to create mental health assessment centres across the six geo-political zones.

“We have heard reported cases of people committing suicide and attempting suicide; people trying to end their lives because they do not see any hope in sight for themselves or Nigeria.

“We are also pushing for the FCT Primary Healthcare Board to organise training for 105 health workers across the primary healthcare centres in the FCT.

“This will enable the health workers to be equipped to handle and identify situations and cases relating to mental health at the primary care level and be knowledgeable to provide first level intervention.”

He said that the training was necessary as most health workers had little or no knowledge about mental health, hence they could rarely provide the needed assistance.

According to Zion, the first port of call for these people will be the primary healthcare centre, which is closest to them.

He said, “What we have today at the centres cannot measure up to the level of healthcare the community people require.

“A good number of people at the primary healthcare centres are not experienced; they do not have the training or expertise in mental health, so they may likely not be able to identify the symptoms.

“When we talk of the mental health disorder called depression, what we mean is the state of an individual mind whereby he or she remains perpetually sad and unsociable.”

Zion said that individuals suffering from this disorder usually lost the drive for certain activities that they had interest for in the past.

He urged Nigerians to accept mental health and encourage people around them who had the disorder to seek help and embrace the orthodox form of treatment.

Zion criticised people who subjected individuals suffering from the disorder, especially family members to torture and various forms of maltreatment, saying that such abuse was no longer acceptable.

He said that the organisation was currently going round local communities in the FCT to identify people with the disorder and refer them to the health centres it was partnering with like the National Hospital, Abuja.