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A PSYCHIATRIST, Major-General Akintunde Akinkunmi (rtd), says the Federal Government’s passage of the National Mental Health Bill is not enough to expand innovative mental health care for Nigerians, urging psychiatrists practising in Nigeria to expand innovative mental health care.
Akinkunmi spoke at a valedictory programme to mark the 70th birthday and retirement from service of Professor Oye Gureje, a global icon in psychiatry, by the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
Gureje is the director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Neuroscience and Substance Abuse at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan.
At the occasion, Prof Graham Thornicroft, a Consultant Psychiatrist at King’s College London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; Prof. Atalay Alem, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia and Prof. Soraya Seedat, Stellenbosch University, South Africa –all Gureje’s international collaborators, made presentations on different global mental health initiatives.
Akinkunmi stated that enacting the National Mental Health Bill does not mean everything in the act will work automatically given that health is on the concurrent list, and therefore each state will also need to domesticate the law for it to be implemented.
He said, “In the absence of an enacted legislation, what stops us from doing what the draft legislation says? Can we start to think outside the box in order to provide innovative mental healthcare?
“Lagos State has its own Mental Health Act and it is not waiting for the Federal Government to pass a National Mental Health Bill because the subject is on the concurrent list.
“That we have enacted an act does not mean everything in the act now works automatically. It is one thing to draft the legislation and another thing to enact the legislation. But the third thing is to actually fund the implementation of that legislation.
“Legislation is a legal document and we need to have legal advice on whether what is proposed or its intention does not conflict with the provisions of current legislation. Also, it offers an opportunity for research to see whether getting the legislation passed will make a difference or not,” he noted.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, represented by Mr Adedamola Kuti, a Director of Federal Highway, South-West Zone, said, “ Prof. Gureje, by all standards, deserves all the honours we can give him.
“He is a result-oriented researcher in the field of Psychiatry, whose impact transcends both national and international spheres. Globally, the World Health Organisation has at different times appreciated and recognised his contributions to global mental health for several decades,” Fashola said.
In their remarks, the vice chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Kayode Adebowale; provost, College of Medicine, UI, Prof. Olayinka Omigbodun, and Prof. Jesse Otegbayo said Gureje had contributed immensely to research and development of institutions in the medical profession.
Gureje, while appreciating the organisers of the event held in his honour, urged the government to pay attention to all policies documents and ensure that “they do not just sit on the shelves.”
He said not having enough resources is not an excuse at all, but that a lot more can still be done with what is currently available.
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