Mental disease, one of the biggest medical problems of the 21st century, hasn\'t yet received adequate attention and investment in southern Vietnam, despite a ten-year-long national project to raise awareness on the issue.
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| Mental health patients in Mai Huong Hospital in Hanoi practise zen therapy. They are among those targeted by social welfare policies. (Photo: VNS) |
At the National Assembly\'s Social Affairs Committee\'s meeting yesterday in Ho CHi Minh City, delegates predicted with increasing stress at work, brain injury, alcohol and drug abuse, that the prevalence of mental illness would increase.
2001 statistics showed 15 per cent of Vietnam\'s population, more than 12 million people, have mental disorders. Bui The Khanh, deputy director of the National Mental Hospital II and other representatives complained the facilities for mental healthcare in 32 southern provinces were inadequate.
Many localities didn\'t have enough sickbeds and specialized doctors for patients with mental problems. The southern provinces have around 13 mental hospitals and 13 general hospital mental departments.
Khanh said only one of five Central Highland provinces and three out of 13 Mekong Delta provinces have a mental hospital.
Ten provinces in the southern region plan to build mental hospitals during the next ten years, adding 930 to the total 2,799 beds for mental illness in the region, he added.
Not many doctors have a calling for mental healthcare, said La Duc Cuong, director of National Mental Hospital I, adding most of them try to transfer away from those duties.
Among 5,693 health officials working in the sector in the south, only 184 are qualified psychiatrists. Statistics from National Mental Hospital II show that the rate of doctors for mental health care was quite low in the region, about 6.5 doctors for 100,000 people, while the number in Japan was 94.
Cuong said in order to solve the problem, Vietnam should train 900 more psychiatrists and provide another 9,000 beds for mental patients.
He added that Vietnam, which was among 35 countries without laws or regulations on mental healthcare, would try to ensure that all cities and provinces have hospitals, which specialise in the field.