PLANS FOR MORE MENTAL HEALTH STAFF
▶ Extra specialists will be trained in new strategy designed to meet the growing demand for services
More mental health specialists are needed in Dubai to cover the growing demand for services, experts said.
New figures revealed nearly a third of the population of the Dubai emirate – about 1.3 million people – are in need of mental health help.
The statistics were released at the Dubai Health Forum yesterday as health professionals discussed a new strategy designed to resolve the service shortfall.
Part of the initiative will be the completion of two training programmes that will help primary healthcare workers to detect early signs of the illness.
“There are burning gaps in mental health in the UAE,” said Dr Nadia Dabbagh, a child psychologist at Rashid Hospital, one of two government mental health providers in Dubai.
“Issues stretch from awareness to prevention, including self-care, primary care, inpatient care, long-term support and outpatient care.
“Within those areas, there are also gaps in governance, a specialised workforce, education resources, financing and support services. That is the reason for the new strategy.”
Data from 2016 showed 1.53 million people sought mental health services in Dubai, with that figure increasing by 8 per cent a year since then.
Two clinics in the emirate – Rashid Hospital and Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital in Awir – are government run, while 46 are run privately.
“We are at the final stages for staff in the private and public sector to train primary healthcare workers,” Dr Dabbagh said.
“We have concerns in the mental health of early years, particularly around attachment [where young children are reluctant to leave their mothers] and socialisation in young children.
“The majority of mental health problems start in the teenage years, and we need to take the links with social media seriously.
“Autism rates are increasing and we don’t know why.”
In Dubai, there are six psy- chiatric beds per 100,000 people, double the number for the whole of the UAE but well below the international average of 29 beds per 100,000.
Singapore has the greatest concentration of inpatient psychiatric beds, with 78 per 100,000; the UK has 52.
The GCC region generally has lower numbers, with Oman offering only three per 100,000, Qatar five and Saudi Arabia 13, according to recent figures.
Demand for inpatient mental health services rose 3 per cent between 2011 and 2015 in Dubai’s Rashid Hospital, from 999 a year to 1,140.
“We are living in a time when the family structures required to raise a child in a healthy environment are not the same, with both parents often working,” Dr Dabbagh said.
“Societal changes are affecting global communities.”
At the forum, mental health doctors said self-care was the ideal way to treat the increase in cases of depression, anxiety and other common mental health problems, followed by community care and better primary healthcare services.
They said an efficient mental health strategy should encourage patients to become integrated into the healthcare system, and not to feel isolated or stigmatised.
Experts also raised the economic effects of mental health issues, all of which have significant fiscal and efficiency costs.
The Global Happiness Report last year showed mental health disorders, on average, reduce national income by 5 per cent.
One in four people are likely to develop some kind of mental or behavioural disorder in their lifetime.
“We have been looking at different countries, such as the UK, Canada and Australia to learn from their approach to mental health services,” said Farah Aqel, a DHA health strategist.
“We don’t want people to wait until they are sick before they access our services. Our strategy is to promote mental and physical well-being.
“If people need treatment, we want to stay with them through their journey.”