PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Psychiatric Association, Professor Fred-erick Hickling, has described the Bellevue Hospital - Jamaica's infirmary for the mentally ill - as "an outdated monolith that needs to be closed down."In an interview Tuesday, he reasoned that the 19th century hospital has lost its relevance as it provides care for only a small percentage of the mentally ill population.
"Bellevue is an anachronism, large mental health institutions are being closed down all over the world. Bellevue is a highly inefficient and overstaffed institution. It should be our objective to get rid of Bellevue, shut it down!" rapped Professor Hickling who was senior medical officer at the hospital in the late 1970s.
But Government officials oppose the notion.
"It is desirable and good to integrate mental health care into general health care, but Bellevue plays many different roles. If it is in fact to go, then all the different services need to be provided elsewhere," said Dr. Maureen Irons Morgan, senior medical officer at Bellevue.
She pointed out that there are patients at Bellevue who require varying levels of supervision and special needs, such as the mentally retarded who also have psychotic disorders, and the elderly who are psychotic. There are no other facilities available for these persons.
Dr. Earl Wright, director of mental health services at the Ministry of Health, advised that Bellevue remained relevant. This, although more mentally ill persons are treated at community health centres and at parish hospitals than are treated there.
"If patients are treated at community level the course of illness is different from those treated at the state hospital because after four to six weeks of being out of touch with family and familiarity they lose connection. The longer they stay in hospital the more difficult it is to reintegrate them back into the community," Dr. Wright said.
