Minister of Health and Wellness, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville commented on how mental health issues are being addressed while on the sidelines of a ceremony honouring thirteen doctors on World Doctors Day.
Dr. Darville said, “we have children when there is weather systems they are impacted. There’s a lot of things going on in our population as a result of the shocks associated with natural disaster and the pandemic. We are addressing it. And when I launched the Wellness Unit I spoke about interfacing with the private sector so that we can provide nutritional counselling, psychological counselling and begin to address a lot of the issues.”
The minister also spoke about the impact the recently passed Mental Health Bill will have when enforced. He said, “I have forty two nurses that are now in post graduate training that will assist us in our drive to address many of the mental health issues that we currently see in the country. Just look around, you go on corners and you see individuals and you wonder what’s going on. These are signs of deterioration of mental illness and its all around us. This new mental health act, and when I bring it into force, will address how do we deal with this issue of populations or individuals who have mental illnesses who are roaming our streets.”
