Muhammad Napoleon:
Posted on: Monday, May 30, 2022 – 5:14 PM | Last update: Monday, May 30, 2022 – 5:14 PM
Dr. Zein El-Etnawy, a senator from Minya Governorate, submitted a proposal addressed to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Health and Local Development, urging them to issue a decision approving the establishment of the Minya Hospital for Mental Health and Addiction Treatment on an area of 40,000 square meters in the new city of Minya.
In his request, El-Etnawy said that Minya is the largest governorate of Upper Egypt in terms of population, with a population of about 6 million and 300,000 citizens divided into 9 administrative centers, which made it ranked sixth in the Republic in terms of population.
He explained that the research of the General Secretariat of Mental Health issued in 2017, i.e. more than 5 years ago, confirmed the high prevalence of mental disorders, in addition to the high prevalence of drug abuse, which necessitates the need to increase attention to mental health and addiction treatment services.
He pointed out that Minya University Hospital does not have a department for treating psychiatric patients, nor does it have a department for addiction treatment, adding that this comes at a time when unlicensed special centers for psychiatry and addiction treatment are spreading in all Minya governorate centers, where the last period witnessed the discovery of 8 Unlicensed psychiatric and addiction treatment centers in one administrative center out of the 9 administrative centers of Minya Governorate, pointing out that these centers treat more than 650 mentally ill and addicted patients away from oversight by state institutions.
He continued, “The mental health hospital, which is currently in Minya Governorate, is the smallest hospital in the republic, as it includes only 53 beds (20 addiction treatment beds – 33 psychiatric beds), in addition to that its building is not qualified to be a psychiatric hospital, as it was designated as a center. Emergency Medicine in New Minya.
He stressed that the current hospital suffers from deficiencies in medical and administrative equipment and some medicines, in addition to receiving addiction patients from Beni Suef governorate, which constitutes a burden on it, and thus it becomes an urgent necessity to establish a new hospital for mental health and addiction treatment in Minya governorate.
He pointed out that there is a plot of land belonging to the New Minya Authority with an area of about 40,000 square meters, suitable for establishing the new hospital to serve patients in Minya and the neighboring governorates.