Senator: Budget could fuel mental health crisis

Independent Senator Dr Varma Deyalsingh said the 2022/2023 budget had the potential of further fuelling a mental health crisis in TT, following the covid19 pandemic. He appealed to government to increase the allocation to mental health in the allocation to the Health Ministry.

He said the Health Minister had understood that the pandemic had created a mental heath crisis and given additional clinics and greater access to medications and resources. He said the pre-pandemic cost of living crisis would be exacerbated by the budget measures.

Deyalsingh said crime had become an additional stress factor and suggested several strategies which could be used to combat this.

“A caring government would allow people to get firearms users licences and give them access to firearms with the relevant licenses and training, especially farmers and fisherfolk. They would give tax rebates on cameras, remove VAT on steel, get YTEPP students to put up burglar-proofing for those who could not afford it, give people access to pepper spray, and deploy army personnel to help municipal police.”

He said he had seen a public relations exercise where the National Security Minister destroyed guns and wondered why they had not been given to farmers and fisherfolk to protect themselves, or sold to other Caricom countries for their defence.

He said the ballistics should have been given to Interpol to see if they had been used to commit crimes elsewhere, and suggested the government ask the US Drug Enforcement Agency for training and assistance since the most recent US travel advisory had embarrassed us.

Deyalsingh called for increased surgeries for common problems such as prostate surgery, cataracts, hernias, etc. He said there needed to be more social workers and mental health counsellors available to reach out to people on the verge of starvation.

He said as TT is an ageing population, and the National Housing Authority should address this by designating areas where elderly people can pay to live or their relatives can pay for them.

“Right now people are looking for hole-in-the-wall places to put their parents and grandparents. They’re always calling me to ask for advice, where can I put mummy and daddy. These places could have pool therapy, mental stimulation etc. The elderly will soon be 30 per cent of the population, an excellent voting bloc if you think of these things.”

He also suggested some retirees could be hired as translators for clinics and to train younger people in various fields.

Deyalsingh said an effort must be made at having public-sector workers work from home where applicable or have staggered working hours, as this would help against wasting fuel, pollution, and traffic. He said traffic is a major problem as medical journals said it increases the risk of diabetes and stroke, and the treatment of these is a major cost to the country.