The original article can be found in: Trinidad Newsday By Camille Bethel
The Ministry of Health plans to make mental health and alcoholism a priority, Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan has said.
Speaking at the Trinidad and Tobago National Council on Alcoholism and other Addictions 36th annual general meeting, at Capital Plaza, Wrightson Road, yesterday, Khan said alcoholism is a mental health disease that is genetic and affects not only individuals but families.
“It has been shown that substance abuse is a mental illness, there has to be de-stigmatisation, because alcoholism affects from the highest to the lowest members of society,” he said.
Khan said advertisements glorify alcoholism, making it acceptable to young people who want to be a part of and experience what the advertisements offer.
This, he said, is where programmes for children come in.
“If we teach children easy methods or actions based on their feelings and nip that in the bud, we would be able to harness that.
“We have programmes that we are developing with the Alcoholics Anonymous group as well as with the Narcotics group.“What is occurring here is that NADAPP (National Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Programme) is under Community Development so I’m liaising with Minister Gypsy (Winston Peters) and Minister (Glenn) Ramadharsingh to develop programmes together so we can move this thing forward.”
Khan said mental health and addictions have been placed on the Commonwealth Heads of Government agenda for next year and so he intends to go to the Prime Minister to get the National Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Programme removed from under the Ministry of Community Development and placed under the Ministry of Health to better coordinate the actions that are needed to effectively deal with the issue.
His Ministry, he said, also plans to set up trauma centres in Arima, Caura and Couva so that people who have had a traumatic event in their life can go there and be counselled.
Khan said a special section also needs to be set up to deal with children who suffer with mood and behaviour disorders.
