Consumer Advocacy Movement, Johannesburg Civic Theatre
25 July 2006
I am pleased to be among you this morning as you launch this important
movement. An advocacy movement specifically aimed at giving voice to the
concerns of mentally ill consumers of health services has been long overdue.
This event gives us an opportunity to strengthen partnerships between
government and civil society around a common goal of transforming mental health
care services into one that is effective and of high quality.
Today is also an opportunity to make a pledge that we will be working
together with mental health patients themselves to ensure that we give a loud
voice to issues that are of concern to them. Mental health is a serious problem
the world over and the World Health Organisation estimates that mental and
behavioural disorders account for 12 percent of the global burden of
disease.
It is estimated that one in every four persons who seeks help from
healthcare services is affected by a mental disorder, which is often missed or
incorrectly diagnosed and treated. Of all persons with disabilities, those with
mental illnesses face the highest degree of stigmatisation, unfair
discrimination, violation of their human rights, exploitation and abuse.
This discrimination results in the majority of mentally ill persons ending
up unemployed, not having access to care or education and forced to rely on
state grants for the rest of their lives.
This places a tremendous financial burden on the state fiscus. More often
persons with mental illnesses are incorrectly viewed as being unskilled,
unproductive, unreliable, violent and unable to handle workplace pressures.
As government and the custodian of the health and well-being of our people,
we are determined to pursue every conceivable path within the confines of our
resources to ensure that we improve this situation. We do realise that we need
to collaborate with other stakeholders to achieve our goal. It is for this
reason that we welcome the launch of this Consumer Advocacy Movement.
As we launch this movement we must have a clear message and that is that
people suffering from mental illnesses have a right to treatment, care and
rehabilitation with respect, dignity and privacy. This is what lies at the
heart of the Mental Health Care Act that was promulgated last year. This Act is
designed to give effect to the rights of mental healthcare users as enshrined
in the Constitution of our country.
The Act makes provision for, among others:
* empowerment of the users themselves so that they can engage service providers
and society
* allocation of adequate resources,
* commitment and leadership for the course of mental health at all levels of
society.
The Mental Health Care Act aims to achieve these goals by introducing a
series of innovative processes and procedures in the care, treatment and
rehabilitation of mental health users and sets clear guidelines on good
practice in relation to the role of mental health care practitioners.
For an example, the Act provides for the establishment of provincial Review
Boards which should conduct systematic review of practices for quality
assurance. It is our firm belief that this would go a long way in addressing
some of the key challenges in the provision of mental health service in
particular the traditional one-size-fits-all treatment approach that is centred
on institutionalisation and displacement of patients.
Although the Act reserves the right to involuntary hospitalisation it also
sets forth accompanying conditions for strict admission and reviewing processes
and procedures before any decision on psychiatric referrals. The Act further
encourages the utilisation of primary and community based mental health
treatment as a way to exploit the continued expansion of the country's clinic
network for affective facility and medical accessibility.
Thus the new legislation prescribes the use of primary health care as the
first point of admission and examination for mental patients before referrals
to secondary facilities or psychiatric hospitals. The proximity of family and
friends and familiar environment is crucial in providing support system and the
opportunity for the person to regain his/her sense of self-esteem, control and
self worth.
Furthermore it would ensure accessibility of appropriate medicines, as this
is often one of the barriers towards effective mental health care. Many mental
health patients end up defaulting treatment and inevitable relapsing because
medication cannot be easily accessed in their locality. The successful
implementation of this law would depend not only on government but also on a
strong partnership with communities and other stakeholders. I therefore wish to
make a call for all of us as government, private sector and communities to give
support to the advocacy movement to improve mental health in our province.
It is my sincere hope this movement we are launching will help us to address
these issues in the spirit of co-operation rather than adversity. Our
collective effort must be focused on public education and breaking down some of
the myths surrounding mental illness. We all agree that mental health is a
priority programme for government and as such this must also translate to
prioritisation in the hospital revitalization programme and infrastructure
development.
I therefore urge all of us to double the effort in our quest to reform and
restructure our mental health service and to improve the life of those mental
health care users and their families who often suffer in silence.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Health, Gauteng Provincial Government
24 July 2006
