Group seeks better mental health care for doctors

The President of the World Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele has tasked all tiers of government and managers of health systems to look into the mental health challenges facing health practitioners.

According to the WMA President, the government and managers of health systems need to address and resolve the mental health, burnout, and psychosocial challenges faced by doctors and other health professionals.

READ ALSO: Expert Advocates Integration Of Mental Health Into Primary Health

Dr. Enabulele stated this while speaking during the recently concluded 5th Global Forum on Human Resource for Health, organised by the World Health Organisation in Geneva.

Speaking on the themes, ‘The impact of COVID-19 on the health workforce, The past, present, and future’ and ‘Protecting the rights of healthcare workers in times of pandemics and beyond — How to move from technical guidance to effective regulation,’ the WMA president decried the alarming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health professionals.

Also, he lamented the negative impact of health system challenges on the mental and psychosocial health of the workforce and flayed the inability of governments and managers of health systems to concretely and altruistically address the challenges.

Dr. Enabulele added that health workers have apprehension over inadequate supplies of personal protective equipment, fear of increased exposure to risk, violence, and stressful work routine.

He said, “I call for the provision of equitable access to mental and psychosocial care services to victims of the disabling working conditions.

“I charge the governments and managers of health systems to altruistically address the inequity in health workforce distribution, and to show greater political commitment to prioritised investments in the well-being, rights, safety and working conditions of the health workforce, comprehensive legal framework to protect the rights of the health workforce and reduce the incidence of violence against them, as well as strengthening the provisions for the health workforce in the evolving draft of the pandemic treaty, amongst other recommendations” he added.

WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, also called for useful suggestions to help resolve the challenges facing the health workforce at large.

He assured that WHO will accord greater attention to the issue of the health workforce to aid the attainment of Universal Health Coverage.

Wumi/Punch