The Island Secretariat of Welfare of Nueva Canarias Lanzarote has proposed to provide the Emergency Service of the Doctor José Molina Orosa University Hospital with a subunit specialized in mental health, with a physical presence of psychiatry 24 hours.
This idea has been proposed by the formation after last week they held a meeting with the mental health association "El Cribo". They point out from NC that this visit coincides with the round of meetings that is doing with third sector associations within the project "Isla Hogar" of the Canarist organization.
From Nueva Canarias they point out that in said meeting they were able to know firsthand "the demands that families and users demand from the public administration", due to the "exponential increase" in cases of new diagnoses related to mental health after the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Public administrations, in the face of this new silent pandemic, must adequately plan and equip their medical and care services. The Lanzarote Hospital could have a psychological care subunit, prepared to make possible the care of people who, unfortunately, arrive with this type of pathologies", says the nurse and secretary of Welfare of NC, Yoné Caraballo.
Caraballo recalls that in the Canary Islands "there are different hospitals that have this mental health subunit in the Emergency Service, such as the Dr. Negrín Hospital or the Insular University Hospital of Gran Canaria." "Due to the population and increase in cases detected on the island, Lanzarote must have this service as soon as possible", he adds.
Another of the demands that the Canarist organization points out is "the incorporation by the Canarian Health Service of the figure of the psychologist within the multidisciplinary team of each and every one of the main reference centers", and in each of the Basic Health Zones that comprise the Health Area of Lanzarote.
"We have to be aware of the increase in patients who go to their family doctor requesting psychological assistance. Therefore, and in the face of this new reality, the public health system must respond firmly by implementing psychology consultations in the main health centers", says Yoné Caraballo.
On the other hand, NC congratulates the mental health association "El Cribo" that this year 2022 will be 30 years since its creation, exercising "a great work with patients and users with diseases related to mental health".
From NC they remember that this association "provides care to more than a hundred users through various comprehensive care programs, social inclusion and assisted housing", with more than twenty specialized professionals.
Yoné Caraballo continues to emphasize and urge the Island Council of Lanzarote of the importance of "making effective the Regulation of Social Agreement of the Government of the Canary Islands", published in January, which will be in force from April 13 "facilitating the continuity of these associations, and most importantly, guaranteeing the quality of care to all the people of Lanzarote".
