18.000 indonesere med psykiske sygdomme anslås at henslæbe tilværelsen i lænker, fastgjort bag huse i landsbyerne og i små værelser i storbyerne – voksende kritik af denne praksis og manglende psykisk behandling får myndighederne til at lægge en reformplan.
JAKARTA, 14 February 2013 (IRIN):- Indonesia is seeking to boost its community mental health services in an effort to end the lockdown (fiksering) and shackling (lænkning) of thousands of mental health patients.
“The practice of shackling mentally-ill people still exists and eliminating it is one of our priorities for 2013,” Diah Setia Utami, director of mental health at the Health Ministry, told IRIN.
He noted that the country’s “serious” shortage of mental health professionals has been one of the biggest obstacles.
The government aims to provide 30 percent of the country’s 9.000 community health clinics and 1.700 general hospitals with staff to provide basic mental health care by 2014, Utami said.
The Health Ministry estimates 19 million people nationwide have various mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, and another one million have severe psychoses (er psykotiske)
Currently, 33 specialized mental health hospitals and 600 psychiatrists offer public mental health care.
“These hospitals are adequately equipped to treat mental patients, but in the future, patients will be encouraged to have treatment outside [the] hospital under the care of families and community caregivers,” Utami added.
It is called pasung
The Health Ministry estimates some 18.000 people with mental disorders, mostly in rural areas and bereft of any mental health services, are still subjected to `pasung’ (shackling) to prevent them from attacking others.
In villages, people with mental disorders are typically chained behind their homes, while in cities, limited space and stigma (udstødelse fra samfundet) confine a number of them to small rooms.
Opposition to the practice has grown along with local media reports of people – at times undiagnosed – wasting away after years in chains.
Yusuf said people still resort to `pasung’ – banned since 1977 – because they cannot afford mental health care and to escape stigma associated with mental illness.
A psychiatric consultation costs on average 25 US dollar, not including drugs. The government plans to implement nationwide universal health coverage in 2014, which is expected to cover most mental health costs.
Government initiative
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97473/Tackling-shackling-of-the-mentally-ill-in-Indonesia
