Meru County Woman Representative Ms Elizabeth Kailemia, has urged the National government to consider establishing mental health facilities nationwide to increase citizen check-ups on their mental status.
Speaking during the launch of this year’s National Government Affirmative Action Fund’s (NGAAF) projects at Mama Safi Centre, Ms Kailemia said there has been an increase of mental cases all over the country and that Mathari Referral Hospital, the only mental health facility in the country cannot accommodate all the cases.
“Of late there has been a tremendous increase of mental health cases both those which can be identified and those which cant, and the only option for the country is to put up more facilities to deal with this menace,” said Ms Kailemia.
She emphasized the need for the government, health ministry, and other stakeholders to investigate the root causes of the issue primarily affecting young people.Thus, “Many of our young people have mental health cases and we need to be keen on finding out what is causing this with a view of addressing it. If this is not acted upon with the emergency it deserves, then we might end up losing a whole generation,” said Ms Kailemia.
She emphasized the need for government intervention in cases of drug abuse resulting from idleness and joblessness. In connection to this, Ms Kailemia said she has plans to introduce sports tournaments throughout the county which will keep the young people including girls engaged.
“We will also look for partners who will engage our young people to find out what is ailing them so we can get to know how to deal with mental health issues which might affect the young generation negatively,” said Ms Kailemia.
By Dickson Mwiti
