The Minister of Health, Dr Chris Baryomonsi, has decried the cruel treatment of people living with mental illness, citing that some of them are handled like criminals.
“Sometimes people who have mental breakdowns have faced stigma, have faced discrimination; at times they have been arrested as if it's a crime to fall sick,’’ he said.
He instead urged Ugandans to help them seek medical treatment in specialised facilities the government has set up across the country.
‘’The message we are sending out there is that first of all, anybody can get a mental illness, whether you are a child or an old person; anybody of us can have his mental health break down.’’
Adding that: “Do not take these people to the police; do not treat them as if they are not part of society, but take them to health facilities,” he urged.
Dr Nakku Juliet, the Executive Director of Butabika National Mental Referral, asked parents and guardians to closely monitor their children for possible signs of mental illness before it is too late.
“We must be careful, because our children may develop some of these illnesses. We should keep an eye on our children to prevent them from developing them because if we don't do that, we will be stressed, we will be in a burnout, and we will not be able to do anything,” she said