Lo (centre) speaks to reporters at the World Health Day celebration, accompanied by Dr Ismail (left) and Dr Gan.
“Not everyone with depression will admit it and realise they need to go to hospital. It’s the people around them who know it.
“There is a need for everyone in society to know how to tell a person is depressed because a depressed person is unaware of his condition, so cannot ask to help,” he said at the celebration of World Health Day at Sentosa Hospital here recently.
This year’s theme was ‘Depression: Let’s Talk’.
Lo, who is also Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman, said it’s worrying that suicide rates in Malaysia appear to be on the rise with 60 cases per month, as reported by the National Suicide Registry.
Depression is a mental illness that could lead to self-harm or even suicide, as a worst case scenario.
“We tend not to speak out and discuss problems openly, which would worsen depression.
“I call on the public to be more open in understanding depression and support those suffering from it.
The role of family members, friends and colleagues is important in helping to tackle the stigma of mental illness.
“It can be treated and prevented. Talking and sharing with trusted individuals is one component of treating depression,” he said.
Sentosa Hospital director Dr Ismail Drahman said since 2010, families with members suffering from mental health are encouraged to bring them home once they have been treated.
“We discourage long-term stay in hospital but encourage families to take care of the patients. Most of them get well, they just need supervision in medication.
“Only severe cases are warded in hospital,” he said, adding that the hospital has 218 in-patients – 70 per cent of them long-term residents who have been staying there for decades with no family members to take them back.
Sentosa Hospital Board of Visitors chairman Dr Gan Chee Kuan was also present.
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