Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1024340
NEWS 6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2018 DAVI D H U DSON THE psychiatrist Mark Xuereb is calling for a na- tionwide strategy to imple- ment a suicide prevention hotline and motion-sensi- tive webcams at notorious death spots. Xuereb, who pioneered a crisis team that runs the hot- line on a 24/7 basis, told Mal- taToday he wants it to have nationwide coverage. "There has never been a cri- sis prevention unit before this one," he said. "The mother of all taboos is suicide and it's also the ultimate tragedy… we desperately need it." Xuereb said last month alone saw five people com- mitting suicide. "For each completed attempt, 20 con- template it, and for every consummated act or contem- plation, six loved ones are af- fected for life." These, in turn, he said, run the risk of facing mental ill- ness and marginalisation. "This amounts to some 5,000 Maltese and Gozitans affected every year," Xuereb said, whose crisis team is run by professionals offering free advice to callers and visitors. "I have done most of the spadework," he says, "in- cluding identifying training sources and the costing of the projects." In 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) identi- fied depression as the most common debilitating illness worldwide, superseding can- cer and heart disease put to- gether. "Depression is a strong risk factor for suicide," Xuereb said. "It's a crisis in itself. Any mental health issue has an associated crisis regard- less of age and the nature of presentation." Xuereb is now proposing a nationwide strategy to fight these crises, with the instal- lation of phone booths, mo- tion sensitive webcams and loudspeakers at the seven most common sites where people jump to their deaths, as well as legislation so as to have a psychological first- aider at work to spot crises early, and a national 24/7 crisis team. Xuereb said he has been campaigning for this with his own 24/7 crisis resolu- tion and home treatment team since he returned from the UK in 2008, where he worked to implement na- tional strategies related to crisis management, demen- tia, self-harm and violence. "We need to sharpen our mental health frontline ser- vice, which should be as crisp as Mater Dei Hospital Acci- dent & Emergency," he said. "People are not mere statis- tics: they have a face, a name and a family." The stigma is so strong, he added, that people who are suffering have no voice. "We have to be their voice." Xuereb also welcomes visi- tors at the neurostimulation clinic at Da Vinci Health Hospital in Birkirkara where Transcranial Magnetic Stim- ulation (TMS) machines are available to patients. "TMS is a non-invasive pro- cedure to help fight depres- sion and other debilitating illnesses. It uses a magnetic pulse to stimulate brain cells that control mood," he said. dhudson@mediatoday.com.mt YANNICK PACE THE Superintendence for Public Health has accepted 30 applications for prescribing medicinal cannabis since the Malta's drug laws were amend- ed in the March. Superintendent for Public Health Charmaine Gauci, said that 39 applications had so far been received, of which nine were still under review. Malta amended its drug laws back in March in order to give patients better access to me- dicinal cannabis, with many MPs arguing that amendments passed in 2015 had not been too restrictive. Gauci specified that there is no specific control card for can- nabis, but rather one that was valid for all narcotics and psy- chotropics. Asked whether it was ulti- mately up to physicians to de- termine whether their patient required medicinal cannabis, Gauci said that every case is treated on its own merit. "The prescriber applies for a control card for narcotics and psycho- tropics on a specific form. In accordance with the standard operating procedure, the pre- scriber lists the medications taken by the patient prior to the decision taken for prescribing cannabis," Gauci said. "Where required the case is discussed with the prescribing doctor." Since Malta's drug laws were amended, many have expressed their frustration at what they have described as an unneces- sarily bureaucratic process for one to access the medication. Cannabis lobby group ReLeaf said patients applying to use medicinal cannabis were being asked to give up their driving licence. The group said that doctors were being obliged to inform the Commissioner of Police that a patient is using cannabis, in order for the police to proceed with the revocation of their driving licence. This was rejected by Gauci, however, who said that it was the patient's doctor who ulti- mately had to decide whether they should continue driving. "All doctors who prescribe medication in whatever form, which can hamper the ability of a person to operate machin- ery or drive safely are obliged to inform the Police on such prescription for this patient," Gauci said. "This is in terms of Motor Vehicles (Driving Li- cences) Regulations of the Mal- tese legislation." 30 cannabis patients get prescriptions Psychiatrist in bid for national suicide prevention crisis team 5,000 Maltese and Gozitans affected by mental illness Psychiatrist Mark Xuereb is seeking nationwide coverage of the suicide hotline