In the past few months we've reported on as many as five cases of dangerous crimes involving mentally ill persons. It's a growing problem, but what is being done to address the pressing mental health issues in Belize? That is the question we ask any health professional we come in contact with and very disappointingly, their response is that they can only do so much with the little resources they have. Today Health Ministry CEO Ramon Figueroa outlined the various Mental Health plans and programs they are working on.
Dr. Ramon Figueroa, CEO - Ministry of Health
"Mental health is one of the priority service programs that we have identified among the chronic noncom cable diseases, injuries, maternal and child health and mental health. Certainly it's a hidden problem because we've only seem the tip of the ice burg. If your start putting in the whole aspect of depression, the suicides that you have heard, all the drug addiction problems that you have, alcohol consumption, those are all part of the signs and symptoms of underlining mental illness or mental problems. The kind of interventions that we have, we have to start building the mental health or capacity to deliver a good mental health program. We're starting right now with partnership, discussions with the University of Belize to be able to train more of our nurses in psychiatric nurse practitioner that we have, to provide the kind of services that we need. So we're starting to build, we need to build the foundation, that's one aspect. Just recently we got, through the assistance of some partners in the UK, the mental health program is getting a van so that we can do more outreach programs. And right now we are also trying to invest some funds in the Palm Center, to improve the lighting. I went there the other day and I mean, frankly it hurts you to see that we have a facility like that, we need to enclose the place. In the past we've heard some stories about people who have been lost, but obviously if you go and visit the facility, you can understand why that happens."
Figueroa says they hope to fundraise to upgrade the Palm Center.
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