Foreign workers, immigrants more susceptible to mental health issues than Maltese
Foreign workers are two to three times more susceptible to mental health issues than the Maltese, while immigrants are five to six times more susceptible to these issues, according to Mental Health Commissioner John Cachia on yesterday’s edition of Indepth.
Interviewed by The Malta Independent’s editor-in-chief Rachel Attard, Cachia said that nowadays mental health was the biggest health issue in people under the age of 30, and that two sections of society in particular faced a lack of support – foreign workers and immigrants.
As a result, both these population groups are more susceptible to mental health issues than the average Maltese person. Support can come through many networks; be it through workplace mental health policies, friends or family. Both EU and third-country workers, Cachia said, lacked these support networks in their lives and, as a result, there was double or triple the risk of them suffering mental health issues.
The same can be said of immigrants. These people, “who went through a lot of trauma” on their journey, have a risk of suffering mental health issues that is five or six times higher when compared to the average Maltese citizen.
In fact, Cachia noted how 25 per cent of the 450 people admitted to Mount Carmel Hospital “against their will” in 2017 were either immigrants of foreign workers.
Asked what he meant by people admitted “against their will,” Cachia explained that there were two types of patients at a hospital like Mount Carmel: those who recognise they need help and seek treatment of their own accord; and those who do not realise that their mental state is a risk to themselves and possibly even to those around them.
Every case of this nature is monitored by the mental health commissioner. Cachia stated that out of the 450 involuntary admissions in 2017, a third were related to drug use, and he reiterated that, demographically, a quarter of the 450 cases were either foreign workers of immigrants.
Cachia appealed for a set policy at places of work that offers an adequate support structure not only to local employees, but also to foreigners who may not have the same emotional support at home that an average Maltese worker might.