President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the Ministry of Health to establish a task force to establish the status of Kenyans’ mental health.
Giving the directive on 21st November 2019, President Uhuru said that the Ministry of Health was to come up with policies that would address the growing number of mental illness especially depression.
President Uhuru noted that it was important to understand the magnitude of the problem so as to ensure sufficient resources were allocated to solve the menace that is affecting an estimated 1.9 million Kenyans according to the World Health Organization.
President Uhuru was speaking in a cabinet meeting that he chaired at State House where his statement was released through the @StateHouseKenya twitter handle reading as follows:
1/4 Cabinet today approved a number of policies focused on boosting the country’s economy including the Kenya Youth Development Policy (KYDP) 2019 which seeks to mainstream issues affecting the youth | @WilliamsRuto pic.twitter.com/hxcA0LaRVa
— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) November 21, 2019
President Uhuru Kenyatta also approved the establishment of Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital and the uplifting of Gilgil Hospital as a satellite mental health facility of Mathari.
Mathari Hospital, whose main role is to provide treatment to mentally ill Kenyans, as from the agreement reached upon in the cabinet meeting, will be elevated to a Level Four Hospital.
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Kenya ranks at number six in most depressed people in Africa and this is supported by the huge number of outpatient cases handled at Mathari hospital averaging at 800 cases on a weekly basis.
In Kenya, only 14 counties out of the 47 have at least one hospital offering mental healthcare services. The 14 hospitals are in Nakuru, Nairobi, Embu, Nyeri, Kisumu, Kisii, Isiolo, Meru, Kiambu, Siaya, Kirinyaga, Machakos, Murang’a and Uasin Gishu.
The number that has access to mental healthcare stood at 86,586 by 2017 with every 2 in 5 in-patient cases in health institutions in Kenya suffering from mental disorders.
Unfortunately, the number of patients suffering from mental disorders, such as depression, outweighs the number of psychiatrists with only 62 psychiatrists serving 47 million people.
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