NGO, PLASCHEMA, train officials on mental disorders

Last updated Aug 25, 2023

An NGO, Sound Minds Medical and Rehabilitation Initiative, is collaborating with the Plateau State Contributory Health Management (PLASCHEMA), to train selected health workers on co-occurring medical and mental health disorders.

Mr Kizito Ndak, Director/CEO of Sound Minds Medical and Rehabilitation Initiative, said at the commencement of a two-day workshop on Friday in Jos, that many people had been ignorantly suffering from co-occurring medical and mental health disorders in the society.

Ndak said the workshop therefore, was to expose the participants to the fact in every medical condition, there was always a mental dimension to it.

The CEO stated that the training was also to equip participants with knowledge of how to identify and handle cases related to mental health disorders.

“In terms of mental health disorders, we talk about things like depression, suicide, bipolar affective disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The medical cases are; tuberculosis, HIV/AIDs and other illnesses that are linked to people who have challenges with mostly substance abuse disorders. We discovered that a lot of people are not aware, especially in the health sector, of the challenges that people who have mental health disorders are passing through.

“They find it difficult to even treat substance abuse at the primary care level. So, our major aim is to teach them how to identify patients that have challenges with substance use disorder and medical mental health disorders,’’ Ndak said.

He also pointed out that if the capacities of health workers were built, patients of mental health disorders could be treated at primary and secondary health facilities without necessarily going to tertiary ones as was the case now.

Ndak stated that the training would therefore, go a long way in shaping the perception of people on issues relating to of mental health disorders and even substance use disorders.

Mr Danladi Wuyep, PLASCHEMA Director of Health Services Standards and Quality Control, said that the trainees were from the agency’s facilities, hence there is a need to partner with Sound Minds Medical Initiative for the training.

Wuyep said that there were salient issues relating to mental health management that the agency intended to tackle, and one of such was boosting the capacities health workers.

“If you look at the people handling psychiatric issues, they are majorly the tertiary institutions, and if you want to mention the people that are doing well in that area, it is just the University Teaching Hospital. So, that informed PLASCHEMA’s decision to also boost the capacity of our facilities and personnel to be able to manage these issues,’ Wuyep explained.

Prof. Charles Nwoka, the Lead Facilitator at the workshop, said that the training was to expose the health workers to the fact that for every physical health challenge, there was a mental health component.

Nwoka stated that if the mental health component was discovered and managed properly, the patient would spend less time in hospital, less money on treatment, and get well faster.

Wumi/ NAN