A PREMIUM TIMES investigation, based on interviews with patients’ relatives, healthcare workers, hospital management and mental health experts, found that rising demand for psychiatric services is stretching JUTH’s capacity
For three days, Emmanuel John waited anxiously in the psychiatric emergency unit of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), hoping a bed would become available for his daughter.
“We spent three days there because there was no bed,” Mr John told PREMIUM TIMES.
When a bed eventually became available, the family’s relief was short-lived. According to Mr John, his daughter was discharged early to yield her bed space to patients in more critical condition.
“I was disappointed, but I didn’t blame the doctors,” he said. “They were doing everything they could. The real problem is that there are too many patients and too few beds.”
Mr John’s experience illustrates the growing strain on one of North-central Nigeria’s major referral centres for mental healthcare.
John’s experience is becoming increasingly common at JUTH. As more Nigerians seek treatment for mental illness, the hospital’s psychiatric department is struggling to cope with demand, leaving patients waiting for admission, stretching healthcare workers and exposing wider weaknesses in Nigeria’s mental healthcare system.
A PREMIUM TIMES investigation, based on interviews with patients’ relatives, healthcare workers, hospital management and mental health experts, found that rising demand for psychiatric services is stretching JUTH’s capacity, forcing clinicians to make difficult decisions about admissions and discharges.
Although JUTH has not publicly released annual psychiatric admission figures, hospital officials and mental health workers interviewed by PREMIUM TIMES said they have witnessed a steady increase in patients over recent years.
They attributed the trend largely to rising substance abuse, worsening economic hardship, insecurity and increased public awareness that has encouraged more people to seek treatment.
Mr John’s family is not alone.
Patience Samuel recalled a similar ordeal after her son developed a severe mental health condition and was taken to JUTH for specialist care.
Following an assessment, the family was informed that no admission bed was available.
“They attended to him, but they couldn’t admit him because there was no bed,” she said.
With no alternative, the family sought treatment at a private hospital, where the cost of care placed a heavy financial burden on them.
“If there had been space at JUTH, we would have stayed because treatment there is more affordable,” she said.
Their experiences highlight the difficult choices confronting many Nigerian families who depend on public hospitals for mental healthcare.
During several visits to JUTH’s psychiatric department, this reporter observed anxious relatives waiting around the emergency unit as healthcare workers attended to patients awaiting admission.
Hospital management confirmed that the department currently operates only two inpatient wards, a 20-bed male ward and a 15-bed female ward. Once the wards reach capacity, newly referred patients remain in the emergency section until space becomes available.
Healthcare workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly, described the shortage as a persistent challenge.
According to them, clinicians are frequently compelled to balance the needs of patients already on admission with those arriving in critical condition. As a result, patients whose conditions have stabilised may be discharged earlier than doctors would ordinarily prefer to create room for emergency cases.
For many families, the alternatives are limited: endure days of uncertainty while waiting for admission or seek treatment at private facilities where the cost of care is often beyond their means.
The pressure on JUTH mirrors a wider crisis confronting Nigeria’s mental healthcare system.
According to the Federal Ministry of Health, only about one in five Nigerians living with severe mental illness receives appropriate treatment, leaving an estimated treatment gap of about 80 per cent.
A shortage of specialists has further weakened access to care. Nigeria has fewer than 300 practising psychiatrists serving a population of more than 200 million people, with most concentrated in major urban centres.
Mental health advocates attribute the situation to years of inadequate funding, persistent stigma, limited community-based services and the migration of healthcare professionals.
These challenges have increased pressure on tertiary hospitals such as JUTH, which now receive referrals from neighbouring states, even as their resources remain limited.
The growing burden comes despite recent policy reforms aimed at improving mental healthcare. The National Mental Health Act replaced decades-old legislation and seeks to strengthen mental health services, promote community-based care and protect the rights of people living with mental illness.
However, experts say meaningful implementation will require sustained funding, improved infrastructure and the recruitment of more specialised personnel.
Against this backdrop, JUTH has become a critical lifeline for many families seeking affordable psychiatric care, making the pressure on its limited facilities increasingly difficult to manage.
