Almost
19,000 people suffering from serious mental disorders are being kept in chains
or pillories because of the country’s limited psychiatric facilities and the
stigma attached to such illness, a top official said on Friday.
“Chaining
or pillorying mentally disturbed people is the worst reflection of the shortage
of health facilities, and we think that in Indonesia there are still around
18,800 people chained or pilloried,” said Irmansyah, the director for mental
health at the Health Ministry.
Restraining
their movement often is the only way out for families of people with mental
health problems, he said, as they usually either have no access to health
services or cannot afford them.
According
to the Mental Health Atlas released by the World Health Organization last week,
Indonesia is among the countries with the lowest ratio of psychiatrists among
the population.
Irmansyah
pointed out that Indonesia only had 1 psychiatrist for every 3.3 million
people. The country also has only 48 mental hospitals with a total capacity of
7,700 beds.
However,
the WHO estimates that at least one million Indonesians are suffering from
grave mental disorders and that some 80,000 of them need to be treated in a
hospital.
Because of
the limited medical infrastructure, “only 3.5 percent of mental health
sufferers have access to treatment,” Irmansyah said.
He added
that even in cases where treatment would be available, families of patients
often were reluctant to find professional help for loved ones because of the
severe social stigma.
The
official said that pillorying someone was a violation of up to nine laws,
including the Law on Human Rights, the Law on the Protection of Children, the
Law on Household Violence and the Law on Health. The government therefore has
set a target to eradicate the degrading practice of chaining or pillorying
mental health sufferers by 2014, Irmansyah said.
He added
that the Health Ministry was preparing a Law on Mental Health that would firmly
state the rights of people with mental problems.
“We have to
remind all that no matter now grave the mental health problem suffered by
someone, we still have the Jamkesmas and Jamkesda schemes,” Irmansyah said,
referring to the national Health Insurance Scheme and the Regional Health Insurance
scheme.
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