MoH working to enhance rehabilitation services for addicts – Dr Anthony

…says better hospital facility in the pipeline for psychiatric patients

Given the significant number of persons requiring rehabilitative services due to some form of addiction, the Health Ministry is working to enhance its services for persons to recover.
In 2022, 54 persons were trained through the World Health Organization to recognize and address addiction, and Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony explained on Friday that such initiatives would continue this year, the fact having been recognized that persons require rehabilitation while suffering from addiction.
“One of the challenges that we see is that a lot of people that come to us for services, there is a subgroup that would need rehabilitation. That is because they are either addicted to some substance — and in other cases, they might be addicted to illegal substances. We need to have a programme in place to help people recover from these addictions,” he explained.
The Health Ministry is aiming to have these services at the primary healthcare level, while developing specialised clinics or in-patient facilities to treat people with addiction.
“This is something that is ongoing. But certainly, with the amount of cases we’ve been seeing, there is really a need for such a service,” Dr Anthony explained.
Renewed focus on mental health has seen the Mental Health Protection and Promotion Act and the Suicide Prevention Act being passed last year. Allocations have been made in the 2023 Budget to revamp mental health institutions to match the standards under the new legislation.
The Health Minister shared that the upgrades would optimise the hospital setting for psychiatric patients. Works to upgrade in-patient facilities commenced at the Georgetown Public Hospital last year, and focus would now be placed on the National Psychiatric Hospital this year.
“We want to upgrade the facilities that we have, where mental health patients would come for services…
Under these new (pieces of) legislation, there is a requirement that our facilities must be up to a certain standard. In a number of regions, we have outpatient clinics for mental health patients, but in some instances, while we provide care at these clinics, there would be patients that would require hospitalisation,” he shared.
The Mental Health Protection and Promotion Bill 2022 was passed in the National Assembly on August 8, 2022. Enshrined in that law are a series of rights for mental health patients, including access to care.
The Act provides for the mental health care of persons suffering from mental illness, and protects, promotes and fulfills the rights of those persons during the delivery of mental health care.
Additionally, it seeks to promote the mental health and well-being of persons in Guyana, and to ensure that all persons receive the best mental health care.