Kaduna psychiatric hospital launches home-based telepsychiatry service

The Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, has launched a telepsychiatry service that will allow some patients to receive specialist consultations and follow-up care from their homes. Medical Director Prof. Aishatu Armaya’u announced the service on Wednesday during a strategic media engagement and the launch of new patient cards and other digital initiatives in Kaduna.

She said the platform was designed to reduce the geographical and financial barriers faced by patients travelling from distant parts of Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Armaya’u said patients and relatives often spent heavily on transportation, accommodation and feeding during hospital visits. Under the new arrangement, patients will be able to schedule appointments, provide consent, make payments and consult healthcare professionals without travelling for every appointment.

She said the service would involve doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, health information managers and administrators, rather than doctors alone. The system would also help the hospital plan its workload by showing the number of patients expected for virtual consultations and the nature of their needs. The medical director said the initiative formed part of a broader plan to decentralise mental healthcare and integrate psychiatric services into primary healthcare facilities across Kaduna State.

Patients whose conditions could be managed at community level would receive support locally, while the specialist hospital could focus more on new patients and complex cases. Armaya’u said specialists at the hospital would support healthcare workers in other centres through telemedicine. She stressed, however, that telepsychiatry would not replace all physical consultations.

Patients requiring physical assessment would still have to attend the hospital. The new patient cards are intended to improve identification, records management and continuity of care, she said.