Psychiatric Centre experience 30% increase in number of cases
The Federal Neuro Psychiatric Centre, Maiduguri, on Tuesday said it recorded 67,000 mental health cases in the past 18 years.
The Medical Director of the centre, Dr Ibrahim Audu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri that the cases were recorded since the hospital started clinical operations in 1999.
He said most of the cases were drug-related, adding that some patients were also presented with
psychological trauma due to the Boko Haram insurgency.
Audu explained that the centre recorded 30 per cent increase of cases in the past three years due to improved security situation, as against drastic drop in the number of cases witnessed between 2011 and 2013.
The medical director attributed the decline to the insurgency which prevented patients from accessing mental health services.
He said “the centre is a 150-bed capacity facility established with a mandate to provide mental health and research in mental services in the North-East.
“Prior to the insurgency, we receive patients from Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states as well as Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.”
Audu disclosed that the centre provided services in the areas of family health medicine, training of mental health specialists and nurses.
“The idea is to integrate family medicine into mental health services and enhance delivery of psychiatric services to the people,” he explained.
He explained that the hospital has 13 consultant psychiatrics, 22 resident psychiatrics, two residents in family medicine and 12 pharmacists.
Other cadre of professionals include three resident radiologists, eight clinical psychologists, 78 psychiatric nurses, five occupational therapists and 12 social workers.
The director added that the hospital was equipped with modern gadgets to meet the exigencies of mental health needs.
He listed some of the equipment as CT scan and X-ray machines, Doppler scanners, Ultra Sound machines, Electro Encephalography (EEG), laboratory kits and pharmaceutical unit.
Audu noted that the provision of equipment facilitated smooth patients’ assessment and wide range of laboratory investigations.
“We also run a Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) to enhance access to Psycho Therapy drugs and other consumables.”
According to him, the hospital has adopted effective campaign strategies to expand its outreach to rural communities to create awareness on mental health.
He noted that the campaign was conducted in collaboration with Federal Government under the Emergency and Psycho Social support programme.
The campaign was designed to create awareness on mental health and build resilience to enable people to cope with psycho social trauma caused by insurgency. (NAN)
