GUYANA-HEALTH-Well-being conference to tackle mental health challenges

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GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 10, A four-day mental health and well-being conference will bring leading mental health experts to Guyana to tackle mental health challenges here.

The conference will be held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre from November 15-18 and will see the participation of at least 20 experts from the Caribbean, Australia, South Africa, Europe, the United States, and Asia, along with local experts.

Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony said the conference will be the second of its kind and will highlight the importance of mental health in Guyana, the Caribbean, and the world.

“Mental health is something that is often not spoken about a lot, but in terms of morbidity, we are seeing lots of people who suffer from various types of mental health illnesses,” he said.

“This is something that we want to draw attention to because over the years, there have been lots of research that have been done, and there are newer techniques on how to work with patients with mental health… and sometimes people are not aware that these techniques exist, new treatments exist and, therefore, what this conference is going to do is to highlight some of these newer ways of working with patients.”

The mental health issue in Guyana, the minister said, is largely underestimated since many people do not access help until their issues are severe.

Since taking office, the PPP/C Administration has initiated several measures to tackle mental health issues.

Foremost is the passage of new mental health legislation, as the previous one is dated back to 1930. The minister said a lot has changed since then in medical science and treatment methods.

This new law will make things better for mental health patients, the Health Minister said.

“The new legislation is centered more on patients’ rights and to treat them much better than what the previous legislation would have contemplated, and this is very progressive, this is modern. This is what is happening in the more enlightened jurisdictions, so this is what we are implementing here,” said Dr. Anthony.

Currently, there are about 200 persons at the National Psychiatric Hospital who do not necessarily have to be there. However, the health minister said measures have to be taken to return them to their homes.

“The new way of treating mental health patients is to make them at home in the community, and for them to function like a normal person, because once they get their treatment, they are able and capable of functioning like anybody else, and we shouldn’t be locking them away, they should be functioning in the society as regular people,” Minister Anthony asserted.

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