Watch: Chris Fearne Launches New 24/7 Mental Health Helpline And Brushes Off Richmond Criticism
Health Minister Chris Fearne has launched a new national 24/7 mental health helpline despite criticism by a leading NGO in the field.
Addressing a press conference outside Mount Carmel this morning, Fearne said the 1579 helpline will be manned by psychologists on a 24/7 basis, providing the first point of contact for people with mental health problems.
He dismissed criticism by the mental health NGO Richmond Foundation, whose CEO Stephania Dimech Sant criticised the government for setting up its own helpline rather than continue funding Richmond’s 1700 helpline.
“Why are they doing this? It seems as if they are dismantling an established service. The organisation has a lot of experience and trained people for the helpline. We have never been informed from their end that there have been complaints with the service. It was up to standard,” Dimech Sant told The Malta Independent.
However, Fearne said that the state funding of Richmond’s helpline was always meant to be a temporary measure until the government could set up its own national helpline.
“Just because a NGO offers a service doesn’t exonerate the government from offering that same service as well, not just with regards to this helpline but across the board,” he argued.
“I remember when a private hospital used to lobby the government not to introduce gamma camera radiography because it had offered it itself, but the government introduced it and rightly so.”
Fearne added that the government has several other agreements in place with Richmond, providing the NGO some €2.3 million a year to operate the Villa Chelsea residential and respite centre, as well as child support and halfway home hostels for former Mount Carmel patients.
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