76 Pct Of Psychiatric Patients Successfully Return To Work - Dzulkefly

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- Mental health treatment in the country has demonstrated positive results, with 76 per cent of psychiatric patients under the Ministry of Health (MOH) successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated into the workforce as of June.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said this achievement, realised through the Community Mental Health Centre (MENTARI) vocational support programme, surpassed the ministry's Key Performance Indicator (KPI) target of 60 per cent.

He noted that mental health treatment in the country focuses not merely on symptom reduction but emphasises functional rehabilitation to enable patients to live independently.

"Mental health treatment aims not only to alleviate symptoms but also to help patients resume their daily lives with their families and return to work. Through 39 MENTARI centres nationwide, patients receive support such as rehabilitation, psychosocial assistance, and aid in returning to the workforce and achieving independence," he said during the question-and-answer session in Dewan Rakyat today.

He said this in response to a question from Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan (BN-Kuala Pilah), who sought information on the indicators of treatment effectiveness at government facilities, the mechanisms for evaluating success, and the rate of patients returning for further treatment.

Dzulkefly added that the quality of MOH treatment is further evidenced by the psychiatric patient hospital readmission rate within a three-month period, which stood at 6.32 per cent well within the KPI target of keeping the rate below 25 per cent.

Meanwhile, responding to a supplementary question from Adnan regarding the potential use of cannabis extracts for mental health treatment, Dzulkefly said the MOH is open to medical clinical research, provided it is backed by scientific evidence.

However, he emphasised that the MOH strongly rejects any approach to fully decriminalise the use of the substance, drawing lessons from the public health crisis previously experienced in Thailand.

-- BERNAMA