More funds sought to care for mentally ill
published: Wednesday | January 21, 2004

By Robert Hart, Staff Reporter

PARLIAMENT'S HUMAN Resources and Social Development Committee has called on the Government to pump more funds into the care of the mentally ill, which yesterday was said to cover as much as 25 per cent of the population.

During the sitting of the House of Represen-tatives, Dr. Donald Rhodd, State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, said the current allocation towards mental health should at least be doubled in order to implement several other recommendations suggested by the committee.

"We are now using four per cent of the overall health budget," said Dr. Rhodd, who also chairs the Human Resources committee.

"Were we to move to eight per cent, and over a period of time 10 per cent, we could in a better way service the 25 per cent of the population which is mentally ill."

MENTAL AILMENTS

The 25 per cent figure covers various mental ailments, including chronic cases like schizophrenia, as well as depression and other illnesses.

He was presenting a report on the committee's deliberations on mental health in Jamaica. Its recommendations were subsequently approved by the House, despite Opposition concerns about the Government's ability to afford it and the impending sale of the Bellevue Hospital property.