Mirian Gom 
KADUNA, Nigeria – Patients receiving treatment at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, can now access follow-up mental healthcare remotely under a new telepsychiatry service designed to reduce travel costs and improve access to treatment.
The hospital’s Medical Director, Prof Aishatu Arimaya’u, announced the initiative, tagged “Connect-Consult-Care”, during its inauguration in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Arimaya’u said the service would particularly benefit patients travelling long distances to Kaduna for routine consultations and follow-up care.
She said patients and their relatives often spend substantial amounts on transportation, accommodation and feeding whenever they travel to the hospital.
Under the new arrangement, patients can continue their treatment from their respective locations, allowing the hospital to devote more attention to new patients and those requiring specialised or complex interventions.
Arimaya’u said the platform brings together doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, health-information personnel, administrators and other professionals involved in patients’ care.
She said patients could access consultations and other clinical processes remotely, while the hospital would also be able to know in advance the number of patients expected and the services they require. The medical director said the initiative would give the hospital more time for health-worker training, research and development of improved mental-health practices.
She also acknowledged the Kaduna State Government’s support for mental healthcare and said the hospital had trained personnel across 23 centres to strengthen mental-health services in the state.
Dr Mohammed Gidado, Head of the hospital’s Telepsychiatry Unit, said the initiative was developed after the hospital observed the financial and logistical difficulties faced by patients travelling from distant communities.
He recalled the case of a patient and companion from Sanga who travelled to the hospital but could not complete their consultation that day and had to spend the night before returning for treatment.
Gidado said the experience reinforced the need for a system that could provide appropriate follow-up care without requiring patients to travel to the hospital for every consultation.
The service is currently available to the hospital’s patients who have internet access and a valid Electronic Medical Record (EMR) number.
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