Tufton moves to destigmatise mental illness
Published:Tuesday | September 11, 2018 | 12:00 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has said that persons who abandon loved ones who have mental illnesses at hospitals should be subject to heavy legal scrutiny.
He said it was perhaps one of the surest ways of getting the message across to people who are in the habit of abandoning their family members because of old age or a mental disorder.
"The stigma around mental illness is a major challenge, and frankly speaking, if I had my way, the laws would probably be changed to holding people to account more for their loved ones and those they have responsibility for," Tufton said.
Responding to questions after presenting the ministry's position on several topical issues informing the health sector at a quarterly press briefing on Tuesday, Tufton took exception to persons who "disposed" of their loved ones because of mental health issues.
Calling it an "unfortunate practice", Tufton further stated his disgust, positing, "One should even consider being more draconian in terms of laws to support greater concern and care, which I think could be argued on moral grounds, but maybe should be argued otherwise too".
Citing The Mental Illness and Homelessness Task Force Report, which was completed just over a year ago, the minister said that four out of every 10 Jamaicans at some point in time will suffer from some level of mental challenge and that destigmatising the illness is a priority for him.
"It is one thing to say the Government must take responsibility, but the root cause of all of this is the unfortunate belief that these [mentally ill] persons should not be supported," he said.
TRAINED PROFESSIONALS
Since the report, 32 people have been trained as psychiatric nurses' aides, with plans in place for additional training to begin by the end of September in the South East Regional Health Authority region.
Tufton said that the ministry is involved in getting an entity to work with internal experts to develop a public-education programme around the destigmatisation of the mentally ill to get Jamaicans to understand that signs of mental illness must be a call to action and not silence.
As a result, he said, he intends to play a vital role in a destigmatisation programme to be launched before the end of the year.