By Mohammed Lawal (NAN)
A Zaria-based NGO, Arewa Youth Trust Foundation, has appealed to local and international organisations to support the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Kaduna to make it more habitable.
The foundation made the appeal at the end of its meeting in Zaria, Kaduna State on Tuesday during which it appraised its survey on rehabilitation centres in Kaduna, Kano and Niger States.
In a communique issued after the meeting, it noted that the Kaduna hospital was central to rehabilitation of people with metal disorder and drug-related cases, as it receives patients from across the Northern region.
The foundation said the Kaduna hospital would require at least N15 million to construct and rehabilitate structures, purchase books for doctors and patients, and provide recreational facilities.
Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Alhaji Fahad Ahmed-Chikaji, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the inmates were in difficult conditions.
“Government had done a lot to the hospital and is still doing, but it cannot do it alone, hence the need for NGOs, especially the international donor agencies to come in and assist,” he pleaded.
He attributed psychiatric problems in Nigeria largely to dug abuse, poverty, negligence and lack of parental care among others.
The Chief Executive Officer said during the survey, the foundation visited conventional and non conventional psychiatric centres in Kaduna, Kano and Niger states to ascertain the living condition of inmates.
Fahad-Chikaji lamented that majority of the patients were there due to drug abuse, and called for collective action to curtail spread of illicit drugs in the society.
“All the centres visited require support as patients were found to be living in unhygienic environment.
“They lack both personal and environmental hygiene; some of the patients with less psychiatric problems are joined together with hardened ones and this often aggravate their problems as they learn bad habits from them.”
He said in one of the rehabilitation centres in Kano, most of the inmates were those addicted to cough syrup, with the centre admitting between three and ten a week.
Fahad-Chikaji also called for mass sensitisation, consistent awareness campaign, and constant preaching in worship places on the negative effects of drug abuse.
He also urged relations and community members to show love and care to affected victims.
NAN