Eastern Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth unveiled a R29m newly upgraded child and adolescent facility at Fort England Hospital in Makhanda last week, marking part of World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Awareness Month.
The 14-bed ward will provide rehabilitation for mentally impaired patients aged 13 to 17, with in-patient services for acute cases, but will also admit non-acute patients for diagnostic purposes, reports News24.
The department said the facility also has the potential to be a training institution for child psychiatrists.
By next month (November), the facility will be managing children who are mentally impaired and need proper examination, said Meth, adding that 19 registered counsellors would be hired to work directly with residents to educate, support and empower communities and families, to improve mental health outcomes.
The department would also improve hospital wards to accommodate a 72-hour assessment for mental healthcare users in 28 prioritised district hospitals over three years.
Meth said she was concerned that about 14% of the global burden of disease had been attributed to mental disorders, mostly due to the chronically disabling nature of depression and other common medical cases, including alcohol use and substance-use disorders and psychoses.
By 2030, experts have predicted, the three leading burdens of disease worldwide would be HIV/Aids, mental illness, particularly depression, and ischaemic heart disease, and Meth said that in this country, mental illness is the third highest contributor to the burden of disease: 16.5% of South Africans suffer from a mental disorder in any given 12 months, and about 75% have not had the benefit of receiving treatment.
One of the biggest challenges in this country was the stigma associated with mental illness, especially in black communities, she added, urging traditional leaders, traditional health practitioners, businesses and communities at large to demystify the myths around mental illness.
Eastern Cape health department unveils R29m upgraded mental health facility for teens (Open access)
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