Mental health needs to be prioritised
Mental health illness needs to be given the same status and priority as other illnesses.
This is according to Limpopo Department of Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba who was speaking on Mental Health Day on Sunday, October 10. “We want to see a situation wherein we elevate the status of mental health sense of emergency to that of dealing with a patient with cardiac arrest, a patient involved in a car accident, or a patient with diabetes.
She said as October is centred around mental health, the Department understood the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic had on people’s mental health. “The fear, anxiety and stress sometimes leading to depression in worse scenarios suicide have been the order of the day in the past 19 months.”
“We want to take this opportunity and raise awareness on this important topic. We do understand mental health has never been regarded as an emergency and has not been given the same priority as other medical conditions.”
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She said currently when someone shows signs and symptoms of mental illness, it is taken lightly, forgetting that if not attended to it could lead to major depression and may even result in someone taking their own life. Ramathuba encouraged checking on loved ones at home and at work for any behavioural changes, “let us become our brother’s keepers and our sister’s keepers.”
She also discouraged self-diagnosing and rather advised on seeking professional medical assistance. “Let us not make ourselves medical practitioners, let us rather go to qualified psychologists and psychiatrists which are available.” She added that it was important for discrimination to stop so those who have mental health illnesses can speak up and not fear discrimination or shame.
