- 2
5
le
le
で
psychiatric оцело
At present, about 30 to 45 of our day hospital
places are taken up by the mentally handicapped who do not suffer from any formal psychiatric disorder.
Moreover, the
Liper cent
number of mentally handicapped patients admitted into various psychiatric hospitals or units for medical treatment due to
Some people say behavioural problems stands at 300 each year.
that it is the psychiatrists who like to keep the mentally
This is not true. On the handicapped at mental hospitals. contrary, pschiatrists have no intention to keep them there, if there are other facilities that can take care of them. Here I would like to emphasize that it is not the psychiatrists but the inadequate facilities for the mentally handicapped that make them stay in hospitals.
Police Power
It
A majority of medical professionals working in the mental health field are in favour of granting the police a power to take a mentally disordered person to a place of safety on the grounds that this is a safeguard for such patients. is quite unlikely that the police will abuse their power, as it is confined to escorting, the person suspected of suffering from
Accident and Emergency mental disorder to the Department to receive care from the Medical Officer. People in the medical field believe that this is a great improvement to the present practice.
Manpower shortage in Mental Health Service
5
Sir, I like to say a few words on the manpower
problem in mental health service.
People deem it the duty of
the Government to provide adequate and quality medical care patients who need them.
per cent
At the beginning of 1987, there were 3,987 psychiatric beds constituting 16.2% of all hospital beds in Hong Kong. However, the quality of care for the mentally ill is not up to the expectation of the medical profession.
As far as