Minister Discloses 700% Surge in Mental Health Cases Amidst COVID-19, Launching Anti-Stigma Campaign Soon

Minister of State in the Ministry of Health Davidson Ishmael on Friday disclosed that there had been a “700 per cent” jump in the number of people seeking care at the Psychiatric Hospital and polyclinics for mental health-related issues since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stigma, he said, continued to be a stumbling block, and officials are undertaking an anti-stigma campaign, to be launched by month end or early April to overcome that hurdle.

“It is important for us to understand that there is still, within the context of Barbados, a significant amount of stigma associated with mental health and wellness.

“Whilst that is the case, the Ministry of Health Wellness is purposefully and in a very dedicated and intentional way, going about and seeking to introduce an anti-stigma campaign that will help us to reduce the levels of stigma associated with this aspect of mental health and wellness,” he said, though acknowledging that many people understand and appreciate the importance of mental health and wellness.

Director of Psychiatric Hospital David Leacock said while there has been an increase in the numbers of persons seeking mental health assistance at the Black Rock, St Michael facility and polyclinics across the island, there has not been a “significant increase” in admissions.

“But we have, as I said, not returned to pre-COVID

numbers for admissions, but as far as seeking services, increases are definitely there,” he said. “We are trying to increase the number of persons who can be seen at the community level. So we are, from our outpatients’ department standpoint, trying to increase the number of persons going out to our clinics and be seen there…. During the course of the last year, we would have seen about 200 to 300 persons migrate from the hospital clinics to the polyclinics and be seen at the polyclinic as well.”

Minister of Health Senator Dr Jerome Walcott added that there needs to be a change in the treatment of people with mental health issues at the various facilities.

“There is the matter of the facilities in which we accommodate those who have mental illnesses, and we need to look away from the custodial type facilities of 100 years ago and certainly look to modernise this,” he said. “[It] obviously can’t be done all at once but over the last financial year, there was an upgrade of the Rehabilitation Therapy Unit and also the Occupational Therapy Unit, and we are trying to modernise gradually.”