PETALING JAYA: Experts assert that while the nation has sufficient mental health facilities to assist people in need, more specialists are still required in the sector.
According to them, people are deterred from using these facilities by the stigma that is still attached to mental illness and the hospitals that treat it.
The majority of Malaysians, if not all of them, can reasonably access and afford the public and private mental health facilities in the nation, according to consultant psychiatrist Assoc Prof Dr Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin of the Universiti Malaya Specialist Centre.
Even in the tiniest communities, the majority of hospitals, Mentari, and health clinics are part of the public sector.
Additionally, some sort of support is offered by our NGOs, such as counselling services.
He stated, “We have psychologists, counsellors, and psychiatrists available for the private side.”
He claimed that Malaysia is one of the few nations with a wide range of pharmaceutical alternatives for treating all kinds of mental problems.
Our government provides support to a few of them. In certain nations, such as Indonesia, there are few drug options available, and in other nations—there are only around ten psychiatrists nationwide—there are insufficient psychiatrists.
Dr. Amer Siddiq, however, feels that additional professionals and services should be available to assist children who require mental health help due to the growing number of children in this group.
There are generally not enough psychiatrists in the nation.
“The World Health Organisation does not recommend the ratio of psychiatrists to the approximately 500 that we have in Malaysia,” he stated.
One psychiatrist for every 10,000 persons is the ratio that the World Health Organisation recommends. Less than one (0.52) psychiatrist is present for every 100,000 people in Malaysia.
According to Dr. Amer Siddiq, Malaysia also lacks adequate allied health resources, such as psychologists, particularly in public colleges.
He stated that more financing is required to train mental healthcare providers, and insurance companies should think about including health coverage for mental illness.
“We also need to keep helping NGOs fight the stigma associated with mental illness.”
While the nation has respectable government mental health facilities that offer both outpatient and inpatient services, it is not the same with the private sector, according to Malaysian Mental Health Association President Datuk Dr. Andrew Mohanraj.
“Outpatient treatments provided by private mental health clinics are primarily located in Penang and the Klang Valley.
In the entire nation, there are just two private hospitals that offer inpatient mental patient facilities.
He remarked, “It seems like private hospitals are hesitant to offer inpatient mental health services.”According to Dr. Andrew, a major contributing factor to this is the severely restricted financial resources available to the private sector, which include very little coverage by private insurance for inpatient psychiatric services in particular and mental health services in general.
“To avoid being transferred to another hospital in the event that admission is deemed necessary, the public is advised to be aware of which public hospital has an inpatient psychiatric facility as this would facilitate admission if needed,” he stated.
He stated that general practitioners (GPs) should have the authority to assess, diagnose, and treat mental health issues in addition to referring patients to psychiatrists as necessary. According to Dr Andrew, “This will also lessen the burden on specialised psychiatrist services, which can then focus on more serious and difficult cases.”
“People are surprised to learn that our nation has a large number of mental health facilities.”
According to her, mental health facilities must do a better job of shedding the negative connotation of being “mental hospitals.”
“We can start by referring to them as centres instead of clinics or hospitals, or by having separate centres that aren’t associated with any hospitals,” Katyana suggested.
She went on to say that psycho-education should also be enhanced, perhaps via community awareness-raising outreach initiatives.
