Saudi Gazette Numerous patients have been successfully treated at Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health in the Eastern Province. However, these patients are not welcomed back by their families after the treatment is completed. According to Dr. Riyadh Al-Wanin, Consultant Psychiatrist at the hospital, 40 percent patients with psychiatric disorders have stabilized and their conditions have improved tremendously, but their families have rejected them and refuse to take them back. “We have number of patients who have been neglected by their family members and have been residing at the hospital for more than 20 years. The extended presence of these stabilized patients negatively impacts their psychological health because they are compelled to interact and mix with new patients admitted to the hospital with severe mental illnesses, which are yet to be treated. In addition, patients with extended stay put a strain on the budget, services, and staff of the hospital,” said Dr. Al-Wanin. He wants better day time services, activities, facilites and a more positive environment that will foster speedy recovery among the inpatients. He is also dissatisfied with the space and general design of the hospital as it is too small and lacks privacy. Dr. Al-Wanin explained, “the capacity of the hospital is to admit 25 patients but we have around 40 patients. This will have negative ramifications in the healing, treatment, and recovery process of the patients apart from leading to shortage of medications.” Data from the hospital revealed that 10 percent inpatients have suicidal tendencies. Amongst the most common and severe mental disorders that are diagnosed and treated are schizophrenia and psychosis, and in an outpatient is depression. The general physician who works in the emergency room, Dr. Hussain Al-Faqih, reported that 70 percent patients who seek help at the hospital suffer from depression, and the majority of them are women. “Each day we receive an average of 70 patients in the emergency room and the department is understaffed. Some patients receive their prescriptions and are required to follow it up with a psychiatrist on regular visits, though others require psychiatric analysis and hospitalization,” said Dr. Al-Faqih. According to several health professionals at the hospital, these obstacles have made the rehabilitation process more difficult on the medical staff and the patients. In response to the doctors' complaints, the Supervisor General of Al-Amal Complex, Dr. Muhammad Al-Zahrani, concurred that the design and structure of the hospital is not suitable for the accommodation and treatment of psychiatric patients, and that the building is old, too. He assured the staff and others that plans are already underway to construct a new specifically designed hospital for mentally ill patients. The new building is also expected to have a rehabilitation center which can accommodate 100 stabilized patients. __
