Drug abuse depiction
Approximately 50 per cent of all patients undergoing treatment at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, are presenting with substance-use-related mental health disorders, the facility’s management has revealed.
The Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. A’ishatu Yusha’u-Armiya’u, disclosed the figures on Wednesday during a media parley in Kaduna organized to launch the hospital’s new digital patient cards, telepsychiatry services, and modern operational innovations.
Yusha’u-Armiya’u noted that substance-use disorder is formally classified as a mental health condition under both the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
She explained that the surge in acute substance-abuse cases prompted the creation of a specialized 52-bed toxicology ward to isolate and manage patients during initial detoxification. The ward was specifically conceptualized to prevent escapes and maintain security during aggressive withdrawal phases before patients are transitioned into general psychiatric wards or longer-term rehabilitation.
Patients remain in the toxicology ward for up to one month before evaluation for admission into the hospital’s Drug Abuse Treatment, Education and Rehabilitation (DATER) program—a structured four-month rehabilitation regimen managed by a 42-bed facility and a multidisciplinary team including addiction specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers.
Addressing mental health access at the grassroots, Yusha’u-Armiya’u stated that while mental healthcare is included in primary healthcare frameworks, availability at the community level remains severely limited.
To bridge this gap, the hospital partnered with Kaduna State health agencies to train medical personnel across 19 general hospitals using the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP).
The initiative was extended to 23 state centers of excellence, which launched operations in August and recorded 1,075 patients in their first month, 75 per cent of whom were female, with epilepsy, depression, and perinatal psychosis forming the majority of diagnoses.
She added that the hospital is renovating additional 54-bed and 44-bed ward facilities to expand overall inpatient capacity while advancing research, training, and community-based preventive care. (NAN)
