The National Referral Hospital (NRH) in Honiara has recorded a total of 2,893 outpatient visits at its mental health clinic in 2024, underscoring the mounting demand for mental health services nationwide.
Speaking to Solomon Star in an interview, Dr. Rex Maukera Psychiatrist Supervisor at the Mental Health Department of Ministry of Health and Medical Service (MHMD) said out of these visits, 269 were new cases, signaling a steady rise in patients seeking treatment for mental health conditions.
Dr. Rex Maukera said the hospital also reported 54 new inpatient admissions linked to drug-related mental health presentations, highlighting the growing toll of substance abuse on communities in the Solomon Islands.
“Further records revealed that mental health staff responded to 44 emergency call-outs—including custody and home-related cases—and carried out 13 community visits to provide outreach support,” he said
He added by comparison, the National Psychiatric Unit (NPU) handled 275 outpatient visits, with 50 new cases and 93 inpatient admissions recorded during the same period.
“Despite these numbers, the report showed critical data gaps, including suicide attempt case reviews and forensic assessments, which were not documented'” he added.
MHMS health workers say the findings emphasize the urgent need for stronger support systems, expanded provincial services, and community-based interventions to cope with the country’s escalating mental health crisis.
Dr.Rex added the data did not capture other provinces but Honiara alone that made visits to NRH in Honiara.
‘’With that one of the challenge we face is the needs to improve the data collection to capture all the cases from all over the province,’’ Dr Rex said.
He also highlighted that main cause leads to person becomes mentally ill is it is a multi factorial.
‘’We cannot say it is drug and so but it comes with many factors like, stress, depressed, environmental disaster, trauma.
‘’However, according to cases reaching the Psychiatric Unit in Honiara, 25% of the cases are related to substance induce which is marijuana use.
‘’But then multiple factors can contribute as well,’’ Dr. Rex further added.
By ULUTAH GINA
Solomon Star, Honiara
