… primary care specialists must realise that psychiatric patients deserve access to the best forms of treatment. – Prof Dr Mohamad Hussain Habi

The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day 2009, Mental Health in Primary Care: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health

An estimated 450 million people around the world suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but less than half of them receive proper medical treatment.

In Malaysia, some 400,227 patients sought psychiatric help in government hospitals in 2008 but that number is just the tip of the iceberg.

With only 200 psychiatrists to treat the increasing number of mental health patients in the country, the role of primary care specialists is more significant in identifying and managing these patients to offer them the best form of treatment.

Leading mental health practitioners opined that early detection by primary care specialists can yield numerous benefits relating to costs and productivity, and in some cases, prevent the affliction from becoming full blown disorders.

Individuals who have mental problems and who do not get the help they need can end up feeling isolated and sidelined by their family and friends and even discriminated against at work.

They may face financial difficulties due to loss of job and may even contemplate suicide.

According to Dr Yen Teck Hoe, president of the Malaysian Psychiatric Association (MPA), mental illness can also occur alongside chronic disorders such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Despite being a common and serious problem, mental health disorders are often under-diagnosed by primary care specialists. They are usually unaware that most psychiatric illnesses are accompanied by physical symptoms such as pain. Such symptoms are treated without further examination.

Dr Noor Zurani Md Haris Robson (bottom), the associate professor at the Department of Primary Care Medicine at Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine, said a proactive mutual commitment by the government, NGOs, families and even the medical fraternity are vital in facilitating the integration of effective mental health services in a primary care environment.

She said the government should develop a framework that advocates the need to incorporate primary care for mental health.

"We need to train and educate primary specialists in order for them to gain a better understanding of mental health problems."

Eliminating stigma and discrimination against mental health illnesses is definitely the first step towards providing effective and attainable mental health care services to the general public in primary care settings.

Professor Dr Mohamad Hussain Habil, president of the Asean Federation for Psychiatry and Mental Health (AFPMH), said primary care specialists must realise that psychiatric patients deserve access to the best forms of treatment.

Mohamad Hussain, who is also the consultant psychiatrist at the Department of Psychological Medicine, University Malaya Medical Centre, added that these patients should be accorded the same level of priority within the primary health care system, alongside other medical disorders such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. – Chan Soo Wah