Mental health training underway
There are a lot of misconceptions about mental illness and the people who live with mental conditions. To help health care workers provide better care and to better educate the public, the Ministry of Education is holding a two-day training session. News 5 was there for the opening this morning.
Vildo Marin, Minister of Health
“A society’s civility is judged by how well she treats her mental patients. Belize is a civil society and hence the reason why it is imperative to treat Belizeans with mental illness with the respect and the dignity that they deserve.”
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
One way the Ministry of Health plans to address the human and fundamental rights of persons with mental disorders is to update and revise the 1957 Mental Health Act.
Dr. Claudina Cayetano, Ministry of Health
“It doesn’t reflect the reality or even of the services that we are providing. And so what happens is that when you don’t have something to protect those rights, some people can do anything they want with it. So in Belize, this workshop is for us to understand the value, the importance of doing that.”
Javier Vasquez, Human Rights Lawyer, PAHO, Washington D.C.
“At the same time, the policies and the legislation can really be an obstacle to exercise the rights. If they do not really create al the environments, all the facilities, and all the opportunities for persons with mental disorders to exercise rights such as freedom, association, movement, education, work. So we can see there is a clear link between the Mental Health Association and policies.”
Because mental health is an issue rarely discussed publicly among affected families we do not know just how many persons are suffering from mental disorders, or how many of these people are receiving the help they need. But according to statistics provided by Minister of Health, Vildo Marin, in his opening address to the workshop participants, mental illnesses appear to be on the rise.
Vildo Marin
“Last year, close to ten thousand people were seen in all the mental health clinics in our country, some of them suffering from mental and neurological disorders or from psycho-social problems such as those related to drug abuse. Mental illness is a reality in Belize. Just over the past three months the admission to the acute psychiatric unit in Belmopan was more than fifty patients. In addition to that, the P.M.P.’s are reporting between seventy to over one hundred patients on a monthly basis.”
The increase is as a result of drug abuse, depression, anxiety, and other psychosocial problems that affect a person’s ability to work and enjoy life.
Dr. Claudina Cayetano
“I think from this workshop we can learn more. How do all of us, because it’s not only the Ministry of Health, we have people in this workshop that come from law enforcement, we have people who are here from the Mental Health Association who are advocates, and together we can make a change in protecting people with mental disorders.”
Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
Belize City Mayor David Fonseca recently held a charity ball to raise money for the city’s homeless, many of whom have mental health problems. The funds will go towards establishing a day-centre to provide activities to keep them off the streets, and a place where they can receive medical treatment. According to the Mental Health Association, the Belize City Council has provided them with a double lot at the corner of Electric Avenue and Vernon Street to help them carry out their work.
