APN 38th Annual Scientific And General Meeting;Organization of Mental Health Services in Nigeria

The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria(APN)held her 38th Annual Scientific And General Meeting recently at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital(LASUTH) with the above theme.The meeting was graced by seasoned Psychiatrists in Nigeria.It was another time more or less, to take stock of the state of affairs as it affects Psychiatric services and practice in Nigeria.

The Chief Medical Director of the host hospital, Dr Femi Olugbile delivered a paper with the theme as the topic i.e 'Organization of Mental Health Services in Nigeria.In his lecture,he commented on the need to boost the knowledge and skills of General practioners and family physicians as an important and first step towards bringing appropriate and effective treatment closer to Ngerian on Psychiatric problems.He further advocated the grouping of Mental illnesses as special category of sickness with a bid to facilitate the provision of free treatment for these category of patients.

Other very important highlights of his lecture include the fact that 1 in 5 roadside destitutes in Nigeria is due to psychosis or drug abuse.Furthermore,he shed light on the fact that the global burden of mental illnesses is such that it is near the top of list of global burden of diseases.Depression particularly causes more Disability Adjusted Life Years(DALYs) than most other illnesses known to man.He further declared that only 1 in 100 of Nigerians needing Psychiatric treatment seek for it in Nigeria.This is a feeler of the extent of awareness of mental illnesses and availability of Psychiatric services in Nigeria.Finally,it was pointed out that though psychotic cases tend to be very dramatic,the vaste majority of psychiatric cases tend to be subtle and invisible or unnoticeable.

It is hoped that the knowledge gained in this meeting is not going to be just for the sake of it,but is going to translate into the much needed education of the general populace about mental illnesses,as well as the organization of strong mental health advocacy groups.

Good Samaritan Rehabilitation Home;an update.

I had earlier posted that the government of Plateau state is closing down the above named centre.I also asked what will happen to those patients in the place after the closure.Well the good news is that the state government is making effort to ensure that there is a ward for these folks at the Vom Christian Hospital where they are going to be managed for a period of about three months with all expenses of managing them being borne by the state government.It is hoped that by the end of this period,a good number of them would have made remarkable improvement as to be able to recollect their homes and relatives and effort will then be made to reunite them with their people.

You must agree with me that this is really nice on the part of the government.It shows a lot of commitment to service and the overall well-being and health of the people.However,after the expertion of these three month period,what happens.Although I have never been to the Good Samaritan Rehabilitation Home,but I believe(from what I heard about the story of that place)that it could still be put at better use by the government if only they will re-organize the place and run it in collaboration with the department of Psychiatry,Jos University Teaching Hospital.Surely the state government can also help in that regard to boost up Mental Health facilities and services present in the state given the overstretched nature of the facilities in JUTH.

So,while I commend the government of Plateau state for this decision in the short term,I am appealing for a long term decision of establishing a Rehabilitation Centre in the State and further boost up Psychiatry facilites in the state.

In support of the movement:The Fight Against Child Abuse.

I came across this blog entry recently and I could not just pass bye.I really wonder why someone would do such a thing?May God help us against such crimes against humanity.Please read on and lend support to the cause.

In our times of darkness, children are the ones who will brighten us up. No matter what ordeals we have to endure in our daily lives, we know that we can overcome them the moment we set eyes on children. Their innocence and purity in them will always give us a sense of peacefulness and calm that is beyond words. And it goes without saying that life would be meaningless without seeing them smile, hearing them laugh and cry, and feeling their small and flawlessly gentle hands that want to reach out to us.

Yet, there are some who show no empathy and sensitivity towards these beautiful souls. Worse still, they would dunk themselves into physical violence and cruelty towards the children without even thinking twice. Such acts can deem someone to be worse than an animal, because even an animal has compassion and love for its young.

What is going on with this world? Why must such horrid acts be carried out? Why do these people ever exist in this world?

Please take this time to read this special message from us, and show your utmost support and sympathy towards the family of the late Nurin Jazlin, who passed away tragically and brutally at the age of only eight. Little Nurin Jazlin’s body was discovered in a gym bag on 17th September, one month after she was abducted. Upon the discovery, she was seen to be in the most horrifying state ever. Her hair was short and curled up, when it was originally straight and long. Her body was pale and badly bruised from head to toe, and there were traces of foreign objects like brinjal and cucumber found in the virginal area of her body.

Parents of the deceased took a long time to acknowledge her death, but eventually did after all the thorough DNA tests had been carried out by the forensics department. Her body was finally buried on 21st September. Her father, Jazimin Abdul Jalil, had expressed his sorrow towards this tragedy, stating that whoever who caused her death was not a human being, but rather, an animal.


This was the result of an outrage of modesty (See Picture On The Right) caused by a man of age between 35 and 40, who was thought to be someone who enjoyed torturing people, particularly children. Along with him was a 23-year-old lady, who was apparently his partner in crime. The lady had been found and called for questioning by the Malaysian authorities, whereas the man has yet to be found. Hence, we are urging all of you here to play your part in finding this serial killer cum sexual offender and ensuring that justice is served to the deceased and her family.

If you know of the culprits’ whereabouts, keep us informed immediately, or directly inform her uncle, Jasni Abdul Jalil, via his blog, which he had specially created as a form of dedication to her.

Over the years, we have heard of children’s lives being taken away due to the evil doings of heartless adults. Nurin’s death was one of the most gruesome and tragic deaths that made many of us shocked, despaired and furious. Do you want more children to die in the hands of these sadistic people? Do you still wish to hear such saddening news of child abuse?Then let us do our part right away! Together we can make this world a better place for the little ones. Let us all join hand in hand and put a stop to such cruelty towards them once and for all! Fight against child abuse today.We have created a logo to show our support towards the fight against child abuse. If you would like to join in this movement, please copy and paste this article in your site and place the logo. After displaying this article, leave us a comment and we will add your link in our list of bloggers who have voluntarily helped us in this movement.

You can read the full article on the link below:
NAFASG©™: The Fight Against Child Abuse: A Tribute To The Late Nurin Jazlin (1999 to 2007): "The Fight Against Child Abuse: A Tribute To The Late Nurin Jazlin (1999 to 2007)"

Sports for mental health;The DATRC experience

Last Wednesday at the Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre(DATRC),a white woman who is one of group of folks visiting the Vom Christian Hospital on vacation from the UK came into the unit with some sport equipments. She came with the sole purpose of teaching the patients or clients some of these games as well as to donate these equipments to the centre so that the patients may be playing it in their recreation time.

That day we all went out, both the patients as well as the staff, to learn what she called Quick Cricket. I had always watched with amazement when Cricket is played on the TV and I used to wonder what it was all about.Well,that day, I leant about the wicket, the bowler and the baton. I learnt how the game is counted i.e. the run. It is rather very interesting I must say, and I am now looking forward to watching a game of cricket on the T.V.Incidentally,Nigeria is not a cricket playing nation. I must sat that before now I never saw a game of cricket played live before. The same cannot be said of other games like Volley ball, Basket ball,Handball,Hockey and a host of other games which though not as popular as Football in Nigeria, nevertheless we are not totally ignorant of.

In order to consolidate on what we have learnt,we also had another round of games two days ago. This time there were two groups, with each group playing cricket and volley ball respectedly.As you must have guessed, I opted for cricket and this time discovered that I was rather better at bowling. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I am really thinking now of how I can be playing the game on a regular basis in order to keep in shape and lose weight. It is rather more interesting and motivating than just jogging.

Apart from the above sentiments, the import of what these white folks did those days should not be lost on us. These people had left the comfort of their home and country to try and touch the lives of people in other lands. They are Christians who know that there are a whole lot of ways by which one can spread the love of Jesus. They have chosen to spread this love simply by teaching these patients how to play games and donating sporting equipments to the centre to promote the regular playing of the game. This surely is a way to touch peoples’ lives and leave an indelible mark in the heart.

Good Samaritan Rehabilitation home;matters arising.

When I was going to the Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre that day,I had it in mind to update the histories of some of the patients whose histories were not clear enough for me to really appreciate the extent of their problems.However,I was only able to take a full history of just one of the patients. The patient I interviewed was really lucid in his descriptions of the problems and gave graphic illustrations of the episodes which led to his admission.

Just as I finished taking my history in a rough form and set about organizing it and putting it on paper,one of the clinical psychologists came in and we set at talking about his psychological assessments of some of the patients with special emphasis on the patient that I just finished seeing.

From there, our discussions shifted to a number of other general issues as it relates to the poor state of mental health facilities in Nigeria especially the fact that there are just a few psychiatric hospitals and departments and very few rehabilitation centres as well. We drifted to a recent announcement made by the government of Plateau state closing down the Good Samaritan Rehabilitation home located at Sabo Gidan Kanan Road,Bukuru,Jos.The announcement said that the home was involved in unorthodox and dehumanizing practices in the management of the mentally ill in the center.

From what I gathered, the place is under the authority of the State Ministry of women affairs and social development but it seems to have lost the supervisory functions due to the neglect by successive governments. However the Jang administration seems to be looking into all the different sections of the society with a bid to improve the quality of life on the Plateau and as such this center came under searchlight.

According to unofficial reports, there are about 29 mentally ill people in the center being managed by someone who is neither a doctor, psychiatrist or Psychiatric nurse. One wonders how such came to be and what qualifications this fellow has to put him in this position. The caliber of people in that home are more or less vagrant psychotic people who may not have anywhere else to go. It is reported that many of them were taken off the street by this fellow at the report of the host community. The category of people in the home include chronic schizophrenics, drug addicts and other people who may not be able to even locate their homes if they are made to go home.

There was the idea that this fellow running the home, whoever he may be saw a need and set at providing such in the absence of government input. Given that he may not be the best qualified to be doing this, but in a situation where the relevant agencies that are responsible and elected leaders that have sworn to defend the constitution and provide for the overall welfare of her citizens fail in their duties, then anybody will do it.

The issue is not that action should not be taking to right the wrong going on in that place, but the question is ;what happens to the patients if that place is closed and alternate provision is not made for them. If some of them were picked from the street and they don’t know where to go, do we then send them back to the streets? Given that the facilities of JUTH is already overstretched in serving about 5-6 states, how then do we accommodate the patients from that home.

This may be an opportunity for the government to demonstrate her commitment to the overall health of the people, both physical and mental. It will really go a long way to help if the government retain the use of that place,re-staff it appropriately and maybe have an arrangement with the Psychiatry department of JUTH to send residents for at least a weekly evaluation of the patients pending a full employment of a psychiatrist if the need be. It must be noted that the Psychiatric hospital Uselu has a similar facility at Mile-18 of the Benin-Lagos express road and it is adequately covered from the main hospital.