Africa-Press – Uganda. Parliament Speaker Anita Among has called for mandatory mental health screening for all citizens across the country.
The country has, of late, witnessed rising cases of gun violence.
Speaking yesterday during the launch of the Mental Health Week at Parliament, Ms Among said the screening would establish the state of our minds.
“Mental health is a reality. It can affect any of us and as it was said all of us are mad. It is just the degree that matters. Now for those that the degree has gone so high, we really need to do the mental health checks not only on the security personnel, but for all of us,” Ms Among said.
“Within one month or two weeks, we have lost lives arising from an aspect of depression, poverty, unemployment, stress, alcohol, and drug [abuse]. And because we have all these problems in Uganda, we are going to make sure people are screened and checked against mental health [matters],” she said.
Gun violence started getting out of control across the country on May 2 following the shooting of the State Minister for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, Col (rtd) Charles Okello Engola.
He was shot dead at his home in Kyanja, a Kampala suburb, by one of his bodyguards, Pte Wilson Sabiiti, who reportedly later turned the gun on himself.
And just as the country was coming to terms with the minister’s death, other fatal shootings in Kampala sent shock waves a few days later. They included the killing of Ibrahim Tusuubira, who was better known by the aliases Isma Olaxess and Jajja Iculi, and the shooting to death of a moneylender of Indian nationality, Uttam Bhandari.
This publication reported last Friday that May has recorded many cases of gun violence.
Mr Geofrey Macho (Busia), the chairperson of the Mental Health Parliamentary Forum, said screenings can be very helpful in mostly assessing the mental capacity of security personnel since their job description involves holding guns while on duty.
Dr Kenneth Okware Kalani, a psychiatrist and senior medical officer at the Ministry of Health, told journalists that according to neurological and substance use data from the Health ministry, epilepsy is the outstanding mental health disorder treated in hospitals across the country, followed by bipolar disorder, then schizophrenia and lastly, alcohol and substance abuse.
“These are the disorders that have been picked up and treated in hospitals. Otherwise, most of the mental health illnesses are not picked up including anxiety and depression because the clients do not come out to speak about them. The disorders remain untreated,” he said.
Mental health checks involve, among other things, mind evaluations and physical examinations to find whether one has any symptoms of a mental health disorder. Ms Among urged the legislators to lead their constituents in taking the health checks.
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