Nueva Canarias Lanzarote has proposed a series of "urgent measures" to alleviate the increase in mental health problems and drug use among Lanzarote residents after the pandemic. Among other things, it calls for the creation of an interdisciplinary team in schools, a short-term child and adolescent hospitalization unit, and a specialized mental health subunit in the hospital.
"We are arriving late and the consequences for the community as a whole will be very serious," says Daisy Villalba, national secretary of Health of NC.
The party has expressed its "concern" about the data reflected in the Canary Islands Sociobarometer, which shows that drug use on the island has increased from 17.1% before the pandemic to 25.5% currently. In addition, among these people, the consumption of anxiolytics has skyrocketed, from 9.9% before the pandemic to 73.2% once it is declared over.
She recalls that the situation "is worsening among the youth population," since 34% of young Canarians between 18 and 29 years old consume some type of psychotropic drugs for emotional reasons since the pandemic began, and 66.9% continue to use them, according to the survey results.
"What the Sociobarometer shows is a reality that social workers have been seeing since the beginning of the pandemic, a tired, stressed society with symptoms of mental and physical exhaustion," adds the national secretary of health. "We are finding high percentages of eating disorders, anxiety, and suicidal attempts and ideas among our children, adolescents, and young people," she adds.
More support in schools and hospitals
NC points out that "schools in Lanzarote encounter numerous difficulties in addressing the mental health of students," so they consider it "a priority" to have at least an interdisciplinary team in each guidance group in schools, adding social workers, educators, and psychologists on a stable basis.
In addition, they also emphasize the importance of "providing educational teams with the necessary tools and protocols to know how to intervene in different extreme situations of suicidal attempts, behavioral disorders, eating disorders, among others."
To this is added, according to Villalba, "that Lanzarote lacks a child and adolescent hospitalization unit for serious mental health problems, with these being admitted to the pediatrics unit, which does not meet the technical, infrastructure, therapeutic, and care conditions needed for a better recovery."
"The creation of a short-term child and adolescent hospitalization unit where children and adolescents can be admitted until their stabilization is fundamental, as well as a child and adolescent day hospital to continue therapeutic treatment in order to avoid what happens today, the impossibility of them being accepted at the reference Materno Infantil Hospital of Gran Canaria," Villalba emphasizes.
"This leads to minors being forced into the chronification of their mental health, with regrettable repercussions for them and their families," she insists.
Hospital infrastructure and collaboration between administrations
It should be noted that throughout this year, the Canarian nationalists have proposed to health and political officials to equip the Emergency Service of the Molina Orosa Hospital with a specialized mental health subunit with a physical presence of psychiatry 24 hours a day, but they point out that the manager of the Dr. Molina Orosa University Hospital dismissed the idea as "electoralist and populist."
On the other hand, the Canarian nationalists point to a "deficient health system in terms of mental health," since Lanzarote only has one child and adolescent mental health unit for outpatient care, which also "must attend to, in addition to the aforementioned mental conditions, developmental disorders, severe mental disorders, depressive disorders, among others," they point out.
Also, the incorporation by the Canary Islands 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.
Finally, Nueva Canarias insists on the importance of "strengthening collaboration between public administrations and the third sector in order to work together in the prevention, detection, and treatment of cases of mental disorders, unwanted loneliness, accompaniment, mental or respite shelters, or improve access to psychologists."
"It is not about putting in more money, but about reorienting and bringing services closer to demand," Villalba insists.
