The deputy for the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa of Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc) and island president of the formation, Yoné Caraballo, has proposed this Wednesday in parliament the need to create a Satellite Unit for Eating Disorders (ED) at the Dr. Molina Orosa Hospital in Lanzarote.
This is what he defended before the Minister of Health, Esther Monzón, where he explained the reality suffered by people with these disorders, especially frequent in adolescents, when being treated at the Lanzarote hospital center together with other people with psychiatric pathologies.
“It hurts to see that young girls and boys who arrive with these disorders have to be in the same room with people with psychotic or schizophrenic behaviors because there is neither a Mental Health Unit nor much less a Unit for EDs”, says Caraballo.
According to recent data in the Canary Islands, the barrier of 1,000 people suffering from some type of eating disorder has been exceeded, figures, says the deputy “that will unfortunately increase if there are no treatment plans in mental health and food education in schools and institutes”.
For this reason, Caraballo proposes a Satellite Unit at Dr. Molina Orosa that has a hospitalization area and a Day Center for minors with mental health disorders, such as eating disorders, among others.
“EDs are mental health pathologies characterized by pathological behavior towards food intake and a continuous obsession with weight control”, explains Caraballo, who continues by pointing out that “they are more frequent in young people of an early age who are daily pressured by perfection, good image, physique or the need to belong to a group. To all that pressure and obsession we add an unwanted loneliness due to the family burdens and work of the parents”.
With everything, Yoné Caraballo wanted to recognize the work of social groups that support and work with people who suffer from these disorders, and encouraged improving the ratio of clinical psychologists in the Canary Islands, with one professional per unit for the 1,000 existing patients.
