MPs want gov’t to increase mental health funding
The Ministry of Health and the Uganda Counseling Association recently reported that 14 million Ugandans suffer from mental illness, with a majority suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.
Butambala Woman Member of Parliament, Aisha Kabanda, has Tuesday moved a motion in parliament asking the government to increase funding for mental health & psychiatric care services in Uganda.
The MP wants the government to prioritize & improve mental health & psychiatric care in the country.
Kabanda revealed that mental health services receive only one per cent of the budget of the Ministry of Health. Money, she said, is too little to handle mental issues.
“Butabika is congested. We have seen patients running out of Butabika and others coming out in worse situations. The facility has a problem that we need to study,” Kabanda said during plenary.
“When I visited Butabika, it had over a thousand patients yet the design was for 550 patients. So there is a lack of space in the only national referral mental facility,” the Nakawa East MP, Ronald Balimwezo said in support of Kabanda.
The Ministry of Health and the Uganda Counseling Association recently reported that 14 million Ugandans suffer from mental illness, with a majority suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.
In order to improve access to mental health care, the motion as moved by Kabanda suggests that mental healthcare in all health units is mainstreamed, employment of more psychiatric professionals, and enhanced mechanisms for supervising mental health services.
