Lagos-A Psychiatrist, Dr Olugbenga Owoeye on Thursday identified inadequate manpower, lack of social infrastructure, and high cost of treatment as major challenges to mental disorder (schizophrenia) management in Nigeria.
Owoeye, a consultant with the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He described schizophrenia as a clinical condition characterised by disorganised thinking, with the predominant symptoms being hallucinations, delusions, and inability to function socially or occupationally.
“Number one challenge in the management of this group of condition is inadequate manpower.
“For example, in Nigeria of a population of about 170 million, we only have about less than 200 psychiatrists.
“The psychologists are even fewer; talk less of the psychiatric nurses and the social workers.
“So, most of them (patients) are being managed by their families, because there is no social support in the system.
“In developed world, there are social supports to take care of this group of people; it is the family and the care (giver) that bears the burden in this part of the world.
“So, we have the challenges in terms of manpower, we have the challenges in terms of funding the treatment of this, and then, we also have the challenges in the social infrastructure that will take care of these individuals when they recover.
“And because of these challenges now, when they now fully recover at the initial treatment, some of them may go into what we call post-schizophrenic depression because of stigmatisation.
“People are not educated enough to know about this condition, they may have what we call post-schizophrenic depression, that is after recovery they will now become depressed.“
According to the consultant, the hospital receives between 15 and 20 new cases of mental disorder daily.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to invest more in the training of relevant health personnel to strengthen the management of psychiatric disorders.
“The way forward now will be for the government to come in the training of more personnel in the management of psychiatric disorders.
“They should invest more funds in the training, either locally or internationally of those people who would manage those who are mentally sick.
“Then in addition to that, the medications, the drugs being used to treat these individuals, government should subsidise it.
“They should not buy their medications just like others because they cannot work to buy their medications unlike other conditions.
“Then, social infrastructure, more employment opportunities should be provided for this group of people.
“Finally, concerning the society, they should be less stigmatised, because the illness is not a respecter of an individual person, your status, your creed, your religion or your race.’’’
(NAN)