Emameh Gabriel in Abuja
Lions Club International has continued to uphold its pledge to better the lot of humanity with the renovation and donation of an ultra-modern Child and Adolescent Mental Unit Centre to Karu General Hospital in Abuja.
The signature project, which was conceived in 2021 by the immediate-past president of the FCT chapter of the club, started in 2022 and was completed in record time of nine months and subsequently inaugurated yesterday at a ceremony attended by members of the club, traditional rulers, among others.
The facility, which was handed over to the management of the General Hospital, is a major boost to the efforts of both the federal governments to improve child health mentality in the FCT and Nigeria in general.
In his opening remakes, Samuel Egbuchiri, president, Abuja Mega Lions Club, said the project was a creation of a proper NEEDS ASSESSMENT in conjunction with the management of the hospital.
The project, he said: “Is not an imposition but an effective outcome of extensive deliberation with the hospital management. It’s not our project but yours.”
He, therefore, urged the management of the hospital to put the facility in good use.
“You demonstrated passion in the course of project implementation. We therefore urged you to sustain the same tempo in the sustenance of the facility,” he said.
He emphasised that mental health treatment among adolescents has become a source of concern in the world today as children were becoming more vulnerable, therefore the “ascertainment of their mental illness should be done professionally.”
He appealed that concern should be targeted at the root causes.
According to Egbuchiri, “Once pediatrics abnormal behaviour is identified, please bring them to the hospital for treatment. To the educators, if a child is underperforming, let’s avoid being harsh to them. Karu General Hospital is the best place to bring them for treatment and counseling.”
He said the event should raise the level of awareness of pediatrics mental health treatment among adolescents.
Speaking earlier, Chief Consultant Psychiatrist and Medical Director of Karu General Hospital, Dr. Osamuede Ojo, thanked Lion Club International for making the project come to fruition.
She said the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre is critical to mental health services going by WHO’s reports which confirmed that “globally 10 percent of children and adolescents experienced mental health, and one in seven of children, aged 10 to 19 years, who experienced a mental health disorder account for about 30 percent of the global body of mental health diseases.”
The Centre, according to Dr. Osamuede, “serves not only as a treatment centre, but also as a training centre for psychologists and psychiatrists.”
