MoH – Gaza develops its psychotherapy service with Electroconvulsive therapy
In the context of the integration service between psychiatry and the general administration of hospitals represented by the Critical Medicine Department and the support and development of mental health services, the Psychiatric hospital was funded with an electroconvulsive device and its appurtenances.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Jamal, Medical Director of the Psychiatric Hospital stressed the importance of expanding and developing the treatment service in this field by adding two equipped rooms for operating and another for recovery.
Dr. El-Gamal clarified that this service was not available in the past, and the cases were referred for treatment abroad, but now we have been able to provide an electroconvulsive therapy device.
Before providing the electric shock device, only two cases were dealt with per week, due to the lack of an adequate recovery room at that time and the lack of capabilities, while the admitted cases used to be (5-10) cases.
Increasing the number of patients who need this treatment was the attributing reason for this enhancement, which is considered the main priority in mental health work since the number of the cases reached (25_35) cases, with an occupation rate exceeding 85%.
According to Dr. El-Gamal, the cases that need this type of treatment are suffering from severe depression and those who suffer from complete loss of appetite and treatment, which poses a great danger to their lives.
Dr. El-Gamal indicated that after the expansion, the medical team in the department became able to conduct two sessions per week for
5-8 patients per week, which reduced the waiting list.
Dr. El-Gamal explained that the treatment with electroconvulsive sessions “electric shocks” is a simple electrical stimulation of the brain cells by giving the patient simple electrical impulses through conductors in doses not exceeding (150_ 500) mill amperes per session so that this procedure is done under general anesthesia for patients with acute psychological conditions that do not respond for drug therapy.
Dr. El-Gamal confirms that this procedure is generally safer than some drugs that are used to treat mental illnesses, pointing out that this service is provided to outpatients as well as the inpatients.