A medical consultant says psychiatric facilities must be developed to help those affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the country.

“If we look at our country now and what is happening, you can say there is a lot of psychiatric need, there is a lot of trauma that has happened and we need to look deeply into this if we are looking for a healthy community,” Dr. Mawien Akot, who is a consultant physician at Juba Teaching Hospital, told Eye Radio’s Dawn Show.

“In order to deliver quality healthcare you need to consider the psychological aspect, because it plays a big role in the patient’s recovery. If the patient is not psychologically sound, his or her recovery will be very difficult to achieve.”

He said the hospital’s psychiatric unit is operational despite the conflict. But he says more staff are needed at this time of conflict.

“In Juba Teaching Hospital, there is a Psychiatry unit. In this Unit, I think there is only one psychiatrist supported by other staff members like psychologists but we need more and this is where the training and the development of human resource ….comes in,” he stated.

“This will be something for the concerned authorities to consider and it is crucial that we raise this issue.”

Last year Juba Teaching Hospital was unable to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cases due to lack of psychiatrists.

Dr. Mawien calls upon the youth to donate blood to the people who are wounded in areas of conflict in the country.