I read with great interest and dismay your article titled, ‘East End mental health facility aims for March 2023 opening’.
How many times has this project been pushed back now? And by how many governments prior to COVID? I can recall at least three governments who have promised the opening of this facility.
I invite the powers that be to ponder the fact that the current eight-bed facility that they have at the government’s Cayman Islands Hospital, for 70,000-plus people, is severely outdated in its functioning and is a human rights violation.
The mere mixing of male and female patients on the ward is wrong and unacceptable. And while the staff is doing the best they know how, they are not fully equipped and trained for that type of setting.
It amazes me how much Cayman boasts of having such fantastic financial services, ample government coffers and such a high standard of living. Yet Jamaica has a mental health facility, albeit substandard.
As someone who has been waiting for the past three years to work at the new facility, and who is very familiar with this field, I would hate to see the new government use this project as a political football and campaign point like previous governments.
More importantly, I also invite the powers that be to consider the fact that while they depend on mental health patients to be discreet about their illnesses, one day there will be a patient who is not going to be worried about covering up their mental health issues, and there will be a lawsuit on your hands.
Sandra Tomlinson
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