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Health Ministry aims to integrate mental health care services
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For this year's World Mental Health Day, which is celebrated every Oct. 10, the World Health Organization is focusing their campaign on scaling up access to quality mental health care. (Shutterstock/Lizardflms)
T
he Health Ministry has said it planned to integrate healthcare services for mental health patients between psychiatric hospitals and community health centers (Puskesmas) in a bid to make psychiatric treatment available to more Indonesians in the future.
Health Ministry director of prevention and control for mental health problems and drugs Celestinus Eigya Munthe said expanding the capacity of Indonesia’s healthcare system to cater to mental health issues in the population was crucial, given the increase in the prevalence of mental health problems during the pandemic.
According to ministry data, around 20 percent of the population, or about 54 million people, are at risk of developing mental health issues. Meanwhile, there were only 1,053 psychologists across the country, Celestinus added, pointing to the huge burden that could be shouldered by healthcare workers in treating mental health issues.
In the planned integrated response, Celestinus said psychiatrists from mental hospitals would be involved in giving care recommendations to patients from community care centers, as well as educating the healthcare workers in Puskesmas on caring for mental health patients.
“We hope that these [psychiatric] hospitals can act as supervisors to optimize the treatment for mental health patients in the Puskesmas around the hospitals,” Celestinus said in a webinar on Wednesday.
“From this integration, we hope that Puskesmas can give quality [mental health] care, the people can receive preventive care for their mental health and be referred to a hospital should further care be needed.”
Along with the integration, the ministry also aimed to upgrade the capability of healthcare workers in the Puskesmas. Currently, there are 6,000 Puskesmas, out of 10,000 total, that provide services to treat mental health issues.
