Dear Prime Minister Lee, ministers
and MPs,
Last week, a psychiatric patient who has a history of mental illness
was sentenced to 8 years jail for burning down the family home; and in the
process killing his pastor father. The
New Paper carried this somber tale on February 14th 2014 (Valentine's Day) in the
report, “Brother’s plea: Please don’t make his sentence lighter.” The irony of it all is that on Valentines’s
Day when love is very much the focus and promoted, a tragic event grabs the
headlines.
33-year-old Ho Wei Yi who suffers from schizophrenia could
have been jailed for life or up to 20 years in jail, caned and fined. But I commend Justice Tay Yong Kwang who
showed compassion and lightened his sentence – despite the fact that Ho’s
brother and his wife asked for Ho to be given a heavy sentence through a letter
that was written and presented to the court by their MP Heng Chee How. The reason given was that Ho’s brother and
his wife were not able to support two mentally ill persons.
Caregivers often suffer in silence, and if anyone knows that, it has to
be me as I struggle each day to care for my wife, Doris. Family ties become strained when caregiving
responisbilites are not equally shared. And when your are looking after a loved
one suffering from mental illness, be prepared to walk alone because very few
people will want to “take the road less travelled.”
There are many families here in Singapore who have more than
one person suffering from mental illness, and the journey can be overwhelming –
more so when there is very little support. This particular case is the tip of the iceberg
for I know of so many other cases where patients and caregivers are struggling
to cope with the mental illness. I try
my best to help, but there is only so much I can do.
CLUB HEAL whose Patron is Halimah Yacob and its President
Dr Radiah Salim have been doing excellent work.
Dr Radiah immediately went down to see Ho’s mother when I alerted her
that she needed staunch emotional support. CLUB HEAL uses the human element, the
Singapore soul to help another human being. This is the kind of care and support that is
needed to tackle the growing problems of mental health issues that are coming
on-stream– fast and furious. IMH must learn from them.
Walking alongside
caregivers to help them cope
I met the mother of Ho 5 years ago when I gave
a talk on my wife’s schizophrenia battle and her amazing recovery at the
Singapore Association for Mental Health.
She was encouraged by my motivational talk and I gave her lots of encouragement.
Two years ago, I was shocked when
Ho’s mother informed told me that her son had ended up in the Changi Medical
Centre (CMC) after he was arrested for burning down their home and causing the
death of her husband. She was distraught
and crying out for help. She then asked
me for help as her son was feeling very miserable having to sleep on a straw
mat in CMC; and needed a bed to lie on. Seeing that sufferers of this condition need
more humane treatment, I wrote to her Member of Parliament – Heng Chee How, and
Ho was later transferred to the forensic ward at the Institute of Mental Health
(IMH).
Defects in our mental health care systems
There are defects in our mental
health-care system that needs to be corrected to prevent recurrences of such
tragedies.
First, the police needs to be
empowered so that mentally ill patients who have violent tendencies can be
brought to IMH on the request of caregivers who cannot manage them. Madam Ho
told me that she approached the police twice to bring her son to IMH, but they
told her that since Ho did not commit a crime at the time, they could do
nothing.
It is a
crying shame that health-care workers in IMH who care for violent patients can
be rescued by pressing the emergency button in the ward, but caregivers who
have the unenviable task of looking after loved ones with such a condition cannot
protect themselves when they approach the authorities.
Second,
even though IMH has a mobile crisis team in place, there is no ambulance service
that can quickly bring violent patients to the hospital when a crisis takes
place. Instead, relatives have to summon for a private ambulance which will
cost them anything from $300 to $400. How can you have a crisis team in place, but
it is not tied in with an ambulance service that can help families in
distress? With caregivers struggling
with financial problems, how are they going to meet out such hefty charges?
Third,
half-way houses need to be built to allow such patients to seek treatment
before they can go back into the community. Here they can be temporarily housed, calmed
down, learn a trade and be given advise on medication compliance.
Fourth,
new atypical antipsychotic drugs can be used to treat schizophrenia, but as
they are costly, the government could help to provide more subsidies for these
medications.
Even
though caregivers are crying out for help, they are not given the structural support
that is clearly lacking.
Some caregivers try their best to
remain positive in desolate times while they cling tightly to faith and hope. But
not every caregiver can do this till the end of time as some of them could be
grappling with their own health issues – as with the case of Ho’s mother.
I am
sure the tragedgy that took place could have been prevented if somebody just
cared. But no one did.
Mental illness – Educate, educate, educate
Sadly, the media sometimes presents
people with mental illness as violent, criminal, dangerous, comical,
incompetent and fundamentally different from the rest of us. These inaccurate or incomplete images perpetuate
unfavourable stereotypes, which can lead to the rejection and neglect of people
with psychiatric disorders.
I have been very vocal about
people struggling with mental illness because I have witnessed the devastation
it has brought to my wife and others in her condition. I have seen the tears of caregivers, I have
heard their cries for help, and I have felt their pain. Yet, many in our society still cannot accept
that these citizens are also God’s children.
This is why public education on
mental illness is very useful in helping to reduce stigma. People generally fear what they don’t understand.
Patients and caregivers are the best people to educate the public on mental
illness because they are “walking the journey.”
Policy makers, who understand the difficulties psychiatric patients and
their caregivers face throughout their lives, can play an important supporting
role.
When people learn more about the
mental illness and the struggles patients and their caregivers have to go
through, they begin to show more empathy, understanding and support. We can then change attitudes and change
lives. IMH needs to organize more public
education on mental illness, bringing alongside caregivers who have overcome
adversities. Yet, very few of these talks are organized.
Above
all, caregivers are in dire need of support, and if IMH cannot do it, then who
will?
RAYMOND ANTHONY
FERNANDO
Footnote: This morning I wrote to PM Lee & his team:
Footnote: This morning I wrote to PM Lee & his team:
PM Lee & health care ministers,
I have taken pains to highlight this issue with the Govt. and even made some suggestions on how our mental health-care system can be improved. So it is only proper and gracious to give me a reply. More so when the civil service is gearing up to improve on its image.
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