Psychiatric nurses in Kakamega have urged the county government to form a mental health board to help in addressing increasing cases of mental illnesses in the community.
While marking World Mental Health Day in Kakamega, Maryangela Mabuka a psychiatric nurse at Kakamega General Hospital said that most people are not aware that there is a psychiatric unit at the hospital where they can get help.
She said the Mental Health Board will facilitate in creating awareness about mental health and reach out to communities and hospitals at the peripheral areas to address the condition that is now common.
The psychiatric nurse also asked for support to start sensitizing community members about mental health and to offer counseling and treatment to those with mental health illnesses.
Catherine Nasimiyu Ondele, a psychiatric nurse, who is also based at Kakamega General Hospital, said there is a need to train Community Health Promoters(CHPs) on mental health management to tackle the conditions at the lowest level.
She said the CHPs should be the first ones to handle Mental Health patients in the community with Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 hospitals having the same capacity and units to offer counselling and treatment to mental illness.
“This is because when one is treated within their home area we reduce the stigma, discrimination and also we create awareness that mental illness is a disease like any other and also we are going to reduce the incidences of mental health,” she disclosed.
Ondele said they have an intention of carrying out mental health awareness in the community asking for budgetary allocation and support from other stakeholders including the Non-Governmental Organizations.
Kakamega General Hospital has a mental health unit and mental health ward serving patients who suffer from mental illness from as far as Siaya, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia and Kakamega counties.
She says most patients who visit the hospital present cases of substance related psychosis, depression and bipolar.
Other common conditions in Kakamega according to Ondele are schizophrenia which is a psychiatric condition that is hereditary and runs in the family affecting even the youth.
“Once you suffer from it, according to research done 50 percent of the people are unable to do their daily living activities and it becomes very expensive,” she pointed out.
People from hard to reach areas of Kakamega county also present epileptic conditions due to delayed second stage of birth as Ondele urges women to utilize Antenatal Clinic and post-natal clinics.
Mabuka urged community members to seek help and ensure they enroll with the National Hospital Insurance Fund(NHIF) to cater for their medication.
According to the Psychiatrists, men are mostly affected by mental illness as they only seek assistance when it is too late unlike women who will speak up and seek assistance once they are facing challenges.
They also say that men commit suicide while women attempt to commit suicide with police officers, health workers, those with chronic illnesses and those in old age being at high risk of committing suicide due to mental health related conditions.
By Moses Wekesa and Teresia Atieno
