{"id":11569,"date":"2021-06-03T17:30:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T17:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=11569"},"modified":"2021-06-03T15:16:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T15:16:25","slug":"ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists","title":{"rendered":"Ministry decries shortage of psychiatrists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Uganda has only 50 psychiatrists, majority of whom are based at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, a Ministry of Health official has revealed.<\/p>\n

Ms Hasfa Ssentogo, the assistant commissioner for Mental Health, said whereas the country is experiencing an increase in the number of people with mental health problems, there are a few doctors to attend to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently we have 50 physiatrists and the majority are at Butabika hospital because they are supper specialised and cannot be lowered. They are specialised in child and adolescent mental health, forensic and maternal health,\u201d she told journalists in Kampala yesterday.<\/p>\n

Ms Ssentongo added that a new survey is needed to know the prevalence of mental health problems in the country, saying they last held one in 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis (survey) has taken long because we have been getting limited funding as the mental health department,\u201d she said.Ms Ssentongo, however, stressed that amid the shortage of specialists, mental health cases can be managed by different health workers, including social workers and counsellors.<\/p>\n

She was speaking at the launch of the project dubbed \u2018Addressing Drivers of Conflict in Uganda\u2019 organised by Safer World, and Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO), two international NGOs.<\/p>\n

The three-year project funded by the Swedish government seeks to contribute to more peaceful, secure and resilient communities in Uganda. It will implemented in different parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Justification<\/b><\/p>\n

Mr Patrick Sambaga, the country director TPO, said they consider mental health as one of the main issues, which contribute to peace in our communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMental health is very central to anybody\u2019s well-being; you cannot talk about development without mental health because everybody needs to be mentally fine and in order,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Dr Juliet Nakku, the executive director of Butabika hospital, the doctor-patient ratio at the mental facility is 1:100.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Butabika hospital, we receive between 850 and 1000 patients a day and yet we have only 11 psychiatrics who are supposed to take care of all those patients,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Nakku also noted that they have been having 47 psychiatrics but in the recent graduation, they got more three.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organisation (2014) estimates that 90 per cent of people with mental illnesses receive no treatment in Uganda. According to the National Institute on Mental Health , more men than women report mental illness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Uganda has only 50 psychiatrists, majority of whom are based at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, a Ministry of Health official has revealed. Ms Hasfa Ssentogo, the assistant commissioner for Mental Health, said whereas the country is experiencing an increase in the number of people with mental health problems, there are a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-11569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nMinistry decries shortage of psychiatrists - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Uganda has only 50 psychiatrists, majority of whom are based at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, a Ministry o ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ministry decries shortage of psychiatrists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Uganda has only 50 psychiatrists, majority of whom are based at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, a Ministry o ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-03T17:30:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/06\/img-60b8f22e04051.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ministry decries shortage of psychiatrists\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T17:30:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists\"},\"wordCount\":385,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/06\/img-60b8f22e04051.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ministry-decries-shortage-of-psychiatrists\",\"name\":\"Ministry decries shortage of psychiatrists - 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