The huge population of the traumatised and the mentally ill due to the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast has now constituted a matter for great concern to the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital (FNPH), Maiduguri.
The hospital management yesterday expressed concern that the hospital recorded significant increase in the number of persons suffering from trauma and psycho social problems in the past five years due to devastating effects of insurgency on communities in the northeast.
In order to check their condition from deteriorating further, as well as stem the growth of their population across the sub region, the hospital has announced plans to urgently establish a Center for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Ibrahim Abdu Wakawa, said at the commissioning of the hospital’s new ultramodern assessment unit yesterday in Maiduguri that the planned center would be the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Wakawa said the hospital had also commenced the implementation of a programme called Opening the Gate, a community health programme aimed at enabling patients of other ailments access medical care.
The Medical Director said over 74,000 patients consulted the hospital since its establishment in 1999. He added that 989 patients consulted the hospital in the first quarter of 2019.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Board of Management of the hospital, Senator Mohammed Sani Saleh, called on the federal, state and local governments to support the hospital with resources due to the high demand and stress placed on it sequel to the Boko Haram insurgency.
He expressed the optimism that the ultramodern assessment unit would serve its purpose.
The assessment unit comprises 4 consulting rooms, medical records, pharmacy, males and female surgery units, high dependency unit, Consultant-In-Charge office, Nurse-In-Charge office, male and female toilets, 2 changing rooms and one store.
