Karu General Hospital has become the main public referral centre for mental health care in the Federal Capital Territory, with patients trooping in from Nasarawa, Kogi, parts of Plateau and and Kaduna states for treatment.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Hadiza Audu who disclosed this during an interview with THE WHISTLER, said that the facility is the first public hospital in the FCT to admit mental health patients.
“I think about five or six years ago, there was no admitting public health facility in the FCT apart from the general hospital. But what I’m saying is that we are the first to start admitting in the whole of the FCT,” she said.
She noted that the unit was started in 2014 and has since grown to serve a wider region beyond Abuja.
Audu said the hospital now serves as a hub for surrounding states that have limited access to public psychiatric admission.
She added that she is glad other hospitals are now looking at opening psychiatry units, which she said will help reduce the patient load currently being managed at Karu.
The Medical Director explained that the hospital offers both inpatient and outpatient services and covers general psychiatry, substance use rehabilitation, and a dedicated child and adolescent section.
According to Audu, most illnesses that affect adults also affect children but treatment must be different.
“For children, it’s called child and adolescent mental health. So there are a variety of illnesses that affect children. So the treatment has to be different. And children are not seen in the midst of adults. The section is segregated for easy access and professionalism,” she explained.
Affordability remains a major draw for patients, Audu noted.
She said care at the public facility costs less than ten percent of what patients pay in private hospitals.
“It’s a public hospital. So you pay less than 10 per cent of what you pay in the private. It’s affordable because opening a card will not be more than N500. Seeing a doctor is N1,000,” she said.
Audu added that in private facilities, consultation for mental health can range from N20,000 to N50,000, and bed fees can go as high as N50,000 daily.
“Unlike in the private where you pay N20,000 to N50,000 daily. The rate is the same. And the N500, N1,000, if you want a VIP, we will create a VIP but then we don’t segregate,” she said.
Beyond mental health, the Medical Director said Karu General Hospital runs a full general hospital with accident and emergency, antenatal, labour ward and outpatient departments.
On challenges, Audu said the hospital faces issues common to the health sector in Nigeria but gets support from the hospital management board.
“Whatever issue or challenge that affects other Nigerians or other health, I have also applied to Kadu General Hospital. But glory be to God. We thank God we have a good hospital management board. So our issues are dealt with,” she said.
Speaking on when people should seek help, Audu said stress becomes a disorder when it begins to affect daily life.
“When difficulties persist to the extent that it affects your family functioning, or affects your educational functioning, or affects your work functioning, or affects other activities in the society, then it becomes a disorder. It is there, you now seek mental health attention,” she said.
(The Whistler)
