A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Progressive Mind International Foundation, has donated foodstuffs and relief materials to patients at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.

Some of the relief materials donated are bags of rice, slippers, insecticides, disinfectants, bathing and washing soaps, and other toiletries.

The provost of the foundation, Morgan Isenane, said, during the donation at the hospital premises on Sunday, that the donation was an act of giving back.

Mr Isenane said that it was a way to help and show love to people in society.

“We have a common goal, and our ideology is to provide for the less-privileged, mentally challenged persons and so on.

“Our foundation is an organisation formed by a group of alumni from a secondary school called Satellite Secondary School in Satellite Town, Lagos.

“We decided to donate to this hospital this year because we realise that looking at the situation of the country, people are passing through tough times, so they are not that stable again. Inflation of prices has not helped matters. This made us come to support the patients today.

“We want people not to take everything in life as if it is going to end. There’s still life after what is happening at this present moment,” he said.

Mr Isenane added that the group believed that it was good to help or lend a helping hand, no matter how much or how little one had, because God sees the giving heart.

In her remarks, Evelyn Akande, chief administrative officer of Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, said that it was happy to receive the donation because it would go a long way to help some patients who had been abandoned by their families.

Ms Akande, who was also the secretary to the gift committee and represented the hospital management, said that NGOs like Progressive Mind were the ones who helped take care of their abandoned patients.

“Mostly, what we do is give priority to the indigent patients because we know there’s no one coming for them, so we provide their toothbrushes, toothpaste, slippers, and toilet soap.

“Some of our patients also visit the beach for activities, especially those who are ready to be discharged, so that they can reconnect with the world outside the hospital.

“What we are doing is for the patient to have a new beginning and believe that there’s still life.

“Everyone of them came in for different reasons, and the human efforts are the medical attention they get, while some have to take their medication for life,” she said.

Ms Akande called for more awareness and sensitisation on mental health for people in society, such as schools, religious gatherings, and others.

“We have a department in our hospital for social welfare. The staff of that department go from house to house, to schools, and organisations to sensitise people on trauma, depression, anxiety and mental health specifically,” she said.

(NAN)