Mental Disorder Affects the Country's Economy, Minister Says
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15 November 2023 08:57 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Cultural Affairs stated that not only do mental disorders affect the patients, but they also affect the economic state of the country.
"Mental disorders affect not only the patients but also the national economy," said Deputy of the Health Quality Improvement Department Y.B. Satya Sananugraha on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
According to Satya, the WHO reported that mental health conditions cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year, covering the cost of treatment, medications, and rehabilitation.
The cost also covered the loss of productivity for people with mental disorders who cannot work optimally, and the cost of consequences of mental disorders such as criminality, violence, and accidents.
However, Satya did not disclose how much expenses the Indonesian government spent on mental disorder cases. Citing a Health Research Report of the Health Ministry in 2018, Indonesia experienced a Rp20 trillion loss each year in mental disorder cases.
"In any case, we must admit that to tackle mental disorder problems, the government must strengthen its innovative and comprehensive policies," Satya added.
These policies include expanding and strengthening health promotion at schools and communities, establishing a mental health residency, and utilizing technology to ease and maximize screening efforts.
The ministry believed screening is critical considering the Health Ministry is targeting mental health screening on 31 million Indonesians by the end of 2023.
Earlier, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin mentioned that one of every ten Indonesians has a mental disorder. The result was derived from a screening of 6.8 million people where 406,314 of them have mental health conditions.
These mental health conditions were categorized into anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.
ANTARA
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