The Mental Health Association has called out Malta’s political parties for not sufficiently prioritising mental health issues in their electoral campaign.
In a statement on Friday, the NGO said proposed mental health-related measures “are clearly ad hoc and might even appear as cosmetic in nature when compared to other sectors.”
“The proposals do not fit a comprehensive, articulated and overarching plan, detailed and fitting to the full implementation of targets set by the National Mental Health Strategy that still grossly remains on paper and without concrete and binding set milestones towards its achievement,” the NGO said.
MHA pointed out that what the nation needs, and what mental health service users have been repeatedly denied under several administrations, is “a reshuffled mental health sector that embraces new care concepts, methodology and approaches building on an evolving, trained and professional workforce.”
They called on political parties to reflect deeper on mental health in their electoral campaigns and to commit in real terms each year of the next Parliament to consistently fund mental health services at a par with physical health issues.
The NGO explained that current emphasis on setting up a new hospital next to Mater Dei, with modern facilities for acute cases of mental health appeared to be “more like a carrot and stick situation for the election,” without being articulated and positioned within a wider context of mental health services that cater for a full range of conditions and situations.
It underlined that as the current situation stood many people do not seek acute psychiatric services due to the poor conditions and fear of stigma, and this factor alone could have a fatal outcome.
While the COVID-19 pandemic had caused demand in mental health services to soar, many service users, caregivers and mental health professionals had been calling for an improvement in the mental health sector well before this, it added.
MHA pointed out that the general election will come and go like other elections before it, but the sick will continue to bear their illness, and battle their distress.
"MHA Malta will continue to strive to make the voice of those suffering from poor mental health, heard. They cannot be left alone, and their needs and rights remain unaddressed. As these suffering citizens face their ailments, it is our duty to support them, not only by our individual efforts, but mainly as a nation," the NGO said.