The Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, has called on individuals, and organisations to assist mentally-sick patients, especially those abandoned by their relatives and friends at the hospital.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Prof Monday Igwe, made the plea in Enugu on Sunday evening after receiving a Humanitarian Service Award from the Rotary Club of Maryland, Enugu.
He noted that the intake, treatment and outright daily care of mental-sick patients were becoming “a great burden” to the hospital and its benevolent staff, who cannot hold back but help.
The medical director noted that the hospital had a pile-up of unpaid bills, adding “We cannot locate their relatives or friends, who brought the patient to the hospital in the first place.”
According to him, “We cannot send them parking or throw them out to the streets; we ensure they are fed, clothed, cleaned up, accommodated and provided with the needed medical services.
“In the spirit of Rotary, we are calling on our people, especially people that have extra, to come to the aid of our patients, because there are a lot of them that have been abandoned by their relatives, caregivers and friends,” he said.
Prof Igwe also urged Nigerians to remember patients in the hospital as they visit other special-needs centres during festivities and merriments, whereas “our own patients are the people who need such donations more than other people because our patients most times have no one to take care and show love to them.
“Our patients are entirely dependent on other people, unlike other patients that can take care of themselves,” he said.
The medical director who thanked the Rotary Club for the award, dedicated it to the entire staff of the hospital who have sacrificed all to keep the hospital rating high.
