A psychiatric patient, identified simply as Sheri, was on Monday delivered of a baby girl at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

 

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Moji Yaya-Kolade, urged family members of psychiatric patients not to discrimate against them because of their mental state of health.

 

Yaya-Kolade, who spoke at the Psychiatric Department of EKSUTH during a visit to the new mother, said family members should not see such as embarrassing or shameful.

 

She said, “Our attention was drawn to a psychiatric patient that put to bed on the street of Oye Ekiti. She could have had the baby in hospital, but because she didn’t know, she had it on the street. It is our responsibility to take care of such person and that is exactly what we have done in this case as a government.”

 

According to the medical expert, mental illiness can happen to anybody “because it is an imbalance of chemicals in the brain just like when one has diabetes.”

 

The commissioner said the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration had come to listen to the yearning of Ekiti people, especially since the ministry has added “human services” to what it renders to the people of the state.

 

The medical expert handling the case, Dr Esther Akinsoto, who said she was informed through a phone call by the health commissioner, added that she swung into action to take care of the lady and moved her to EKSUTH for proper psychiatric management.

 

Akinsoto said the state government will not discriminate against anybody irrespective of their state of health.

 

She said, “The woman is very intelligent because I have interacted with her, I am sure if she gets better, she will be able to take care of the baby and even her family.”