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CATHERINE W GICHUKI
DOHA
THERE has been significant improvement in Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) Mental Health Service in the recent past, officials have said, adding that more improvements in terms of the services and the facility will take place in the coming month.
HMC's Mental Health Service mainly receives patients with disorders such as stress, anxiety and depression.
Speaking at a press conference to announce the 7th annual Qatar International Mental Health Conference to be held at Sheraton Hotel from December 6 to 8, HMC Mental Health Service Senior Consultant Dr Suhaila Ghuloum said,"Last year alone there has been significant improvements in many aspects of mental health including clinical, administrative, research, training, academic activities and all the different disciplines of occupational therapy, psychology, social work and pharmacy."
She said that patients with anxiety and depression are supposed to go to the primary care physician and only the more severe cases or the more complicated cases are referred to Mental Health Service for a specialised service.
Describing HMC's Mental Health Service as the main public sector mental health provider in Qatar, she said:"The majority of patients that we receive suffer from schizophrenia or stress-related and psychotic disorders. Most of the patients come to us to avail our specialised service."
Iain Tulley, the HMC chief executive of Mental Health Service and also the National Strategy lead for Mental Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry of Public Health said stress, anxiety and depression are prevalent across the country."There are many people who suffer from anxiety and depression, but very few who go through real difficulties because of these problems report their cases to the HMC facility."
According to him, the government has recognised mental health and wellbeing as one of the seven population priorities for the next five years in Qatar.
"This is important because we all know that one in four people will suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives. And the fact that the government has recognised it as a priority means that Qatar can focus on tackling stigma and making it easier for people with mental illnesses to come forward to avail the HMC's Mental Health Services."
Tulley added:"And a lot of focus in the next few years will be on providing services within primary care. The health centres will be providing psychological therapy and access to psychiatric services so that people do not have to always go to the secondary care. As part of the strategy, we will be making improvements to the facility and try to tackle stigma associated with mental illnesses."
Meanwhile, speaking about the conference the officials said that it will have international, regional and local speakers and delegates.
"Our keynote speaker is from Australia and she will talk about why women's mental health should be a priority. We also have speakers from the UK, other European countries, Canada, Kuwait and Qatar. We will be highlighting our quality improvement initiatives undertaken in the last couple of years through posters at the conference. One of the topics at the conference is encouraging people to think about their own mental health, to talk about mental health when they have difficulty in their family or amongst their friends," said Dr Ghuloum.
Mental Health Service Assistant Executive Director of Patient Safety Dr Wesam S Smidi said,"We are working on different quality improvement projects including, enhancing security across our services to ensure patient and staff safety as well as promoting multidisciplinary care approach among team members."
Occupational Therapy Specialist and Supervisor of Community Mental Health Hussain Ali Buhazaa said,"Our services are for acute mental health."
