Dr Taiwo Obindo, the President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), says that more Nigerians are distressed now than before, and that may inflict mental health conditions on more Nigerians.
Obindo gave an assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos while reacting to President Bola Tinubu’s one year in office.
He expressed worry over the current economic hardship, coupled with the level of poverty and other social factors in the country, saying that might likely inflict mental illness on more Nigerians.
He listed the social factors to include high cost of living, insecurity, kidnapping, financial problems, inflation, child abuse, rape, broken homes and broken marriages, traumatic experiences and degrees of violence among others.
Obindo explained that people who were predisposed to social factors were more likely to develop mental health issues, particularly during this period when the country was faced with lots of economic challenges.
Obindo decried the rate of multiple taxation on small-scale businesses and individuals, stressing the need to streamline the taxes. According to him, an average Nigerian is disposed to more pressure and distress now than before.
He called for intensified efforts by the Federal Government to release people of these pressures to safeguard the mental health of its citizens.
“I cannot say I have seen any major shift when it comes to policies, when it comes to decisions and when it comes to the health and mental health of Nigerians.
“Looking at the pressure on an average Nigerian; with the increasing inflation, with the challenges that are happening around and pressure from overtaxing on them.
“One can say that an average Nigerian is put under pressure; more Nigerians are more distressed now than before. And this may predispose more Nigerians to develop mental health conditions,” Obindo said.
The APN President, therefore, called for swift implementation of Nigeria’s National Mental Health Act, to pave the way for adequate protection of Nigerian's mental health. He explained that the National Mental Health Act 2021 was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 2023, saying that up till now, the Federal Government had yet to implement that Act.
“Before Buhari left, an Act was assented to by the President in 2023 and since the Tinubu-led Administration came; the Federal Ministry of Health is yet to implement that Act.
“Every push for its implementation is meeting with a major hindrance from the Federal Ministry. The beginning would have been the establishment of a department in the Federal Ministry of Health and up till now, nothing has been done.
“The department is meant to be in the forefront of seeing to the rights of people with mental health conditions; setting up a review committee, an assessment committee and mental health fund, but, up till now, we have not seen much.
“But, if we look at the effort of the mental health programme in the Federal Ministry; we can see a dilemma of hope; we have the Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework on the ground, which is meant to decriminalised attempted suicide – giving those who attempt to take their lives a rebrief, sending them for treatment rather than prosecuting them.
“So, on that front, maybe we say we made a tentative step,” Obindo added.
Obindo said there was a need for the integration of mental health services into the Primary Health Care system in Nigeria. According to him, the integration has become imperative to create room for more and easy access to mental health services at the grassroots as the majority of the nation’s population dwells in rural areas.
He said: “Over 60% of the population dwells in the rural areas, but mental health services/facilities are hardly available in those areas.
“If the services for mental health can be integrated into primary healthcare; it means that even from primary health centres people can now access these services and it can bring protection to people working in that space.
“Similarly, it will create room for not only easy access to the services, but also for its readily availability, promote awareness and equally reduce mental health stigmatisation to a great extend.”
Dr Olufunmilayo Akinola, a Consultant Psychiatrist, applauded the Tinubu Administration for its numerous policies, which were all good, but, advised that they should not all be executed at the same time.
Akinola, who works with the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Yaba, said the policies should be executed "one at a time" to avoid impacting adverse effects on the citizens and economy.
She expressed concern over the exodus of health workers to other countries, calling on the government to address the driving factors responsible for the development.
According to her, the governments are doing a lot for the health sector, but they need to do more. She lauded the government for establishing nursing and medical schools and buying equipment for the health sector, decrying that the health workers to manage the facilities were leaving the country.
“There is a mass exodus of trained and qualified health workers out of the country. This has left the Nigerian health facilities bare with consequent loss of manpower.
“What are the conditions of the hospitals, why are doctors, nurses and other health workers leaving; the government needs to address them.
“So, is not just about establishing nursing and medical schools; who will teach them, because, the people that will teach and manage the facilities are the ones going away,” she stated.