Selagalas Mental Hospital in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), revived mental health treatment for poor patients and unlisted vagrants early this year, says a hospital representative.
Hospital director Elly Rosila Wijaya said the policy was in line with a joint decree of the health, social, justice and human rights and home ministries on health care for the underprivileged, disaster victims, disabled, foster home occupants, convicts and drug abuse victims.
"This is a good policy because unregistered poor residents and vagrants suffering from mental conditions are entitled to treatment," Elly told The Jakarta Post in Mataram recently.
The policy requires the hospital to treat the mentally handicapped found on the street by coordinating assistance with local social offices, Elly added.
"A patient who is poor and has no identification will not covered by Jamkesmas *health insurance*. But we can coordinate with social offices, which will certify the patient as a poor person and thus entitled to free health care," she said.
The hospital revived mobile services at community health clinics as part of an initiative to encourage people to bring their mentally-challenged relatives for examination.
"This year we will also be proactive by providing services to social homes and Mataram prison," she said.
NTB province was ranked tenth of 33 provinces in 2007 for residents with mild mental conditions, which affected 12.8 percent of residents, according to the Central Statistics Agency.
One percent of resident - more than 40,000 of the province's 4.3 million people - suffer from severe mental illness, ranking NTB fifth of the nation's provinces for the problem.
"The problem is, where are they? Why are there only a small number of them admitted to the mental hospital?" she asked.
Elly said there shame in the community for families that have relatives with mental illnesses.
As a result, they avoid public services and prefer to use the services of shamans to cure the illness. Only when treatment by shamans fails do they bring patients to the mental hospital.
"It is not surprising that many patients in Lombok and Sumbawa are confined by their families," Elly said.
The Selagalas Mental Hospital reported that it has treated 3,856 mentally ill patient as of May this year, 3,305 as out-patients and 282 severely-impaired in-patients.
In 2009, 9,142 patients were treated for their mental condition, 7,254 of whom getting out-patient and the rest in-patient treatment.
More than 70 percent of the hospital's patients come from poor families, which indicates that the main factor behind mental illness in NTB is poverty, she added.
Many migrant workers suffer severe distress because they were trapped by debt or returned home due to failure, Elly said.
Although mental illness is not life-threatening, its impact are detrimental because a patient's productivity is reduced or nonexistent, especially for people between 25-40, she added.
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