7m people in W. Java suffer depression

7m people in W. Java suffer depression

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Around 27 percent of 37 million people in West Java suffer
light to severe depression with some three million of them
psychotic due to complex social problems in the crisis-riddled
country, doctors have said.

The social problems include an increase in unemployment,
poverty and the use of illegal drugs.

Dengara Pane, who heads the Bandung Central Psychiatric
Hospital, said on Sunday that out of the province's population of
37 million people, more than seven million suffered from mild
depression.

And, at least one to three of every 1,000 people in the
country's most populated province experienced severe depression
or suffered from a psychosis, he added.

Citing the findings of a study in 2001, he said the figure was
similar to the outcome of a survey conducted by the World Health
Organization (WHO), which said between one and three of 1,000
people in the globe were mentally ill.

Dengara said people with mild depression usually had sleeping
difficulties or easily become anxious, while those with severe
depression experience severe stress or psychosis.

"Only those with severe depression receive medical attention
from us," Dengara said earlier on Friday during a hearing with
the West Java Legislative Council Commission E overseeing social
affairs, people's welfare, education and health.

He admitted that around 50 percent of those who were treated
or hospitalized in local dispensaries for mental illness were
from the lower income bracket.

As the patients could not afford to cover their medical costs,
he said his hospital situated on Jl. Martadinata and another
hospital on Jl. Cisarua had to bear the expenses, resulting in
debts of more than Rp 420 million from banks.

Apart from that, the increasing number of sufferers seeking
medical treatment and care was also blamed for the increasing
debts.

Dengara said many of the patients undergoing medical treatment
at the hospitals were children and adults who have still had a
future ahead of them.

Responding to the problem, councillor Yudi Widia Adia of
Commission E admitted that the provincial legislature had not
paid much attention to the management of the hospitals for the
mentally ill as they received operational funds from the central
government.

Dengara said his hospital alone received around Rp 400 million
per month earmarked by the central government from its general
allocation funds.

"But following his report (on the increasing number of
patients), we have decided to allocate a special fund for the
hospitals," Yudi said.

"We even need to set up a program to reduce the number of
mentally ill people in West Java because it is related to the
productivity of people here," he added.

She promised to propose an allocation of funds from the 2004
provincial budget for the two hospitals to help pay their debts.

During Friday's meeting, councillors expressed concern over
the low wages of hospital workers. They are mostly paid Rp
250,000 per month, much lower than the minimum wage of Rp 550,000
per month as stipulated by the West Java government.