Mental illness must be targeted at a local level – projects that will allow people to approach a nurse or a doctor before being handed over to a psychiatrist will raise the number of people seeking help.

Addressing the parliamentary adjournment on Tuesday, Malta Labour Party MP Joseph Abela spoke of the severe social stigma which is still attached to mental illness and how this can be fought so that more people will seek help and treatment.

He spoke of a pilot project launched in the Qormi health centre, where anyone who feels they require help, can speak to a doctor or a nurse. “An entire team is working to reach out to these people and this system makes it easier for those suffering from mental problems to come forward,” he explained.

Mr Abela noted that this service is open to residents from the following localities – Qormi, Siggiewi and Zebbug. “The person responsible told me that another project like this, to serve another three localities, will cost Lm60,000 to set up,” he said, stressing that this would be vital and would be very constructive for the community as a whole.

He said that a stint in Mount Carmel hospital still, unfortunately, carries with it a certain amount of shame. This, as a result, stops people from seeking help and projects such as the one set up in Qormi can help change this.

The MLP MP explained that mental illness affects both sufferers and their families. These families often do not know how to deal with the situation or how to improve it.

Mr Abela, therefore, said that help within the community can help support the family and convince the sufferer to seek treatment, since these are often reluctant to do so.

The mentally ill suffer quietly in the silence of their own homes and their cries are very rarely heard, he stressed.

This should not be so and even though the stigma is lifting, it is still rampant. This is unfair, the MP concluded.