Patients can access psychiatric care from home as Kaduna hospital launches telemedicine

Patients at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Kaduna will now be able to access psychiatric consultations and follow-up services from their homes as the hospital launches a telepsychiatry platform aimed at reducing the burden of traveling long distances for treatment.

The medical director of the hospital, Prof. Aishatu Yushau Armaya’u, disclosed this during a strategic media engagement and official launch of the hospital’s new patient cards, telepsychiatry services and other digital innovations in Kaduna.

Armaya’u said the initiative was designed to make mental health more accessible, especially for patients who travel from distant parts of the country and neighboring countries to receive treatment at the hospital.

He said some patients and their relatives spend significant amounts on transportation, accommodation and food each time they have to visit the hospital, making it difficult for some families to get regular psychiatric follow-up.

According to her, the new platform would allow patients to remain in their communities while accessing specialist care remotely from the hospital’s medical professionals.

“This is my dream for the next 20 years, to see the impact of what we’ve done today translated across the world, where a patient can stay in the hospital to have affordable, available and accessible mental health care at home,” he said.

The Health Director explained that the system was designed to provide a coordinated service involving multiple healthcare professionals rather than limiting virtual consultation to doctors only.

He said doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, health information managers and administrators will be involved in the digital care process.

With the system, he explained, patients can schedule consultations, provide required consent, make payments and receive medical care without necessarily going to the hospital for each appointment.

Armaya’u said the platform will also allow the hospital to coordinate patients before consultations, allowing healthcare workers to know the number of patients expected and the nature of their medical needs.

He said the initiative was part of a larger effort by the hospital to decentralize mental healthcare and integrate psychiatric services into primary healthcare facilities across Kaduna State.

According to her, the aim is to ensure that patients who can be managed within their communities do not have to repeatedly travel to the specialist hospital, while the facility focuses its resources on new and complex cases.

He said the hospital was working with relevant authorities to integrate mental healthcare into primary healthcare services across the state, with centers in local government areas expected to provide primary mental health services.

“This is not a new thing. Mental health is an integral part of the primary healthcare package,” he said, underlining that the challenge was to ensure that mental health services were effectively embedded in primary healthcare facilities.

Armaya’u said the agreement would also allow specialists at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital to support health workers in other locations through telemedicine.

It said the approach would reduce pressure on the specialist facility while creating more opportunities for its practitioners to undertake research, training and treatment of patients with complicated conditions.

The medical director said the hospital’s digital transformation was driven by the need to overcome geographic and financial barriers that prevent some people from accessing mental health care.

He gave the example of patients traveling from remote local government areas and neighboring countries, saying the costs of transport, accommodation and food could make treatment difficult for families with limited resources.

Armaya’u said telepsychiatry would then provide an additional channel through which such patients could remain in contact with their healthcare providers.

She, however, noted that patients requiring a physical assessment or specialized interventions would still need to visit the hospital when necessary.

The hospital has also launched new patient cards as part of the digitalisation of its services, with the facility expected to improve patient identification, medical record management and continuity of care.

Armaya’u said the reforms aim to build a mental health system that is more accessible, affordable and responsive to patients’ needs.