The chairperson of the Health Committee of Parliament Francis Ayume has called for opening up the treatment of mental health patients to the private sector

The chairperson of the Health Committee of Parliament Francis Ayume has called for opening up the treatment of mental health patients to the private sector.

Ayume was speaking during a meeting held with officials from Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital and Uganda Psychiatric Association on the Public Health Amendment Bill 2022.

Ayume remarked that the current monopoly of treatment of mental health by Government is simply firefighting given the rise in mental health cases in Uganda and thus the need to push these services to the community.

The Executive Director Butabika Hospital Dr. Juliet Nakku welcomed the proposal but called for regulations upon which private psychiatric hospitals can operate.