KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — Students can wait up to a year or more to get help for mental health problems due to a lack of clinical psychologists, a foundation said.
The Star reported Yayasan Hasanah, a foundation that works on community and social issues, as saying that this long waiting period occurred even before a diagnosis.
“If someone – a child or a student – needs to see a mental health professional, the waiting period can be between eight months and a year.
“In Kuala Lumpur, it can easily be more than a year before professional help can be given to students who may be facing some serious issues,” Yayasan Hasanah senior vice-president Dr Nur Anuar Abdul Muthalib was quoted saying at the Hasanah Report 2018 media briefing.
He reportedly said secondary school students living in public flats were most prone to mental health issues.
Think tank Penang Institute reportedly said in 2017 that one out of three Malaysians, or 4.2 million people, suffered from mental health problems, according to the 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey. But Malaysia only had 92 clinical psychologists.
The Galen Centre said recently that mental illness was expected to be the second biggest health problem in Malaysia by next year.
