From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
More than 25 million people across the globe are said to be suffering from mental illness and 80 percent of such persons, are not seeking medical attention to correct the problem.
The Medical Director of Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, Dr. Abdulkadir Usman disclosed this in a speech he delivered at the 2014 world Mental Day celebration held in aduna, at the weekend.
According to Dr. Usman, many of those suffering from such mental illness never sought for medical attention to correct the abnormalities which he attributed to family or relations hiding
patients while others don’t what to associate with such persons, and others see them as taboo.
“Mental illness, like any other illness, can be corrected if detected early but the problems, especially in Africa, is that nobody wants to be associated with mental patients and that is why we see them all over our street and nobody is showing concern”, he said.
In his own remark, the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Neuro- Psychiatric Kaduna, Alhaji Ramallan Yero said the major causes of mental illness are drug abuse, depression, uncorrected head injuries and emotional breakdown. According to him Metal depressed persons see and hear what others don’t see or hear, and this translates to their absurd behavior such as talking alone or walking naked.
Speaking in the same vein, Pastor Yohanna Buru of Christ Reconciliation Foundation, said the major problem faced by mentally-depressed people in Nigeria today is stigmatization and negligence.
He called for more effort to end the trend as well as the government to establish a free medical center for lunatics and mentally disordered people.
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