Lapse in out-patients mental care is real!

The body of a mentally ill woman found in the bushes has prompted us to ask the question – Was she let down by the system? The deceased was known to be living with some form of mental disorder and would be hospitalized from time to time. So, shouldn’t she be under some form of supervision?

Minister for Mental Health, Wellness and Religious Affairs – Hon Delma Thomas told us that the incident should serve as a reminder of the importance of continued support, monitoring and community awareness surrounding mental health care. Again, she said that the Ministry remains committed to strengthening mental health services, improving follow-up care for patients and families, and ensuring that those living with mental health challenges are treated with dignity, compassion and the necessary support. On Out-patient care, Hon Thomas said that Mental health care does not end at discharge or with Out-patient status. It extends to follow-up appointments, medication management, family engagement, community support and intervention where risks are identified.

She stated that over the years improvements were made in aftercare services, including strengthening out-patient follow-up, expanding community outreach, improving transportation access for home visits and intervention, and increasing engagement between healthcare workers, patients and families. So what is being done about challenges in areas such as specialized human resources, case management and the wider community support network needed to ensure sustained care for vulnerable individuals which remains ongoing?

The predominant illness on admission to Mt Gay Hospital is said to be schizophrenia which sparks some fear when one gets the explanation of that disease. We have heard of plans for the integration of mental health services into primary health care.  We have also heard of an updated Mental Health Bill, so Minister please explain why those instances keep happening!

That incident at Vendome which left one man dead, still has people talking about the gruesome acts in that quiet village allegedly done by a 37-year-old who is said to be mentally-ill and they shared the belief that drugs of some sort are too easily available to our young people on the island. Then there was the chopping incident in Carriacou which left a relative nursing wounds. It was revealed that the attacker was mentally ill. In assessing the situation at Vendome, this newspaper has confirmed that the dead man and the attacker were both on the register of Grenada’s lone hospital for people who are mentally ill. They were both on the long list of Out-patients who are allowed to live at their homes; but are expected to visit the hospital in a timely manner for treatment. However, we have information that one of them lapsed in that area and had not been attending clinic for a while. This brings to mind the surveillance of the Out-patients. Just who is in charge of them?

The young man who went on the rampage at Vendome is said to be the same man who stabbed a police officer while in custody at the South St George Police Station. The officer was stabbed at least four times; thank God he is still alive. While he was diagnosed as someone who is mentally ill, he was allowed back into the village and was expected to voluntarily go for treatment from time to time.

The victim also was reportedly suffering from some kind of mental illness but attended Out-Patient clinic as required where he received treatment and was stable enough to attend to his job at the Ministry of Finance. With names being on a register at the hospital for mentally-ill out patients, why wasn’t the young man’s absence noticed and treated with some level of urgency? Was he expected to operate normal even after being diagnosed with mental illness of some sort?

Again this brings to question the surveillance of the Out-patients of the hospital for the mentally ill. Someone quoted him as saying “I must kill allyou and burn allyou house? Weren’t those words serious threats? Then again, the incident in Carriacou with another mentally ill Out-patient chopping his female relative over her body and had to be taken to the General Hospital, doesn’t that look like negligence on the Ministry of Health’s part.  The man described by the police as mentally-ill, managed to dodge the police for some days which caused fear in the area.

Not often we hear of government officials being treated at our local hospitals. We have heard of them being flown out of Grenada for treatment whenever that is needed because most likely they can afford the cost. But in a country with the minimum wage being still fairly low, isn’t there a substantial number of our citizens who will not be able to afford that luxury and are stuck with the health system here?

There are those among us who know of the days when the health system had workers who, in the event of mentally ill Out-patients not showing up for their treatment at the different clinics, would go and seek them out to administer the much-needed treatment. So if it was known then that mentally ill patients will not always be on top of their game when it comes to receiving treatment as some may genuinely confuse the dates in their minds, what is being done about that today where the press of a key on a computer can produce the register? Just who is supervising that area?

From all appearances addressing this matter must take priority.

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