“It is important that Members of Parliament look after themselves as they are looking after the country.”
This is the comment by Assistant Professor Psychiatry Dr Odille Chang during the awareness session on mental health for parliamentarians.
Dr Chang said that it is important that parliamentarians know what will be important for the country and mental health is indeed one of the issues often neglected.
She said that people don’t’ realise how important it is to maintain mental well-being.
Dr Chang added that MP’s need to invest in mental health and make it a priority.
She added that unfortunately they don’t have statistics in Fiji on mental health patients but according to the World Health Organization about 80,000 people suffer mental disorder from mild, moderate and severe.
She said that apart from addressing mental illness, it’s important that they start looking at preventing mental disorders and maintaining mental well-being.
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