BRAIN GAIN PROJECT

It has been a long established fact for many years now, of the migration of skilled professionals from developing to developed countries. This phenomenon has been coined the ‘BRAIN DRAIN’. The economic and human costs to developed countries have been enormous. Its consequences have been that developing countries pay the full cost of educating and training their citizens, only for the richer developed countries to enjoy the full benefits by recruiting a highly skilled labour force trained by a developing country. This is particularly true when you look at the field of care of the mentally ill.

There is evidence to support the fact that care of the mentally ill in developing countries is still very much influenced by ignorance concerning the causation and treatment of mental illness. To compound the problem, those most qualified to provide the lead in lifting the standards of care for the mentally ill leave their posts to answer the call of recruiting agencies in developed countries. The reasons for this BRAIN DRAIN in the field of mental health are principally to do with economics and the opportunity to work in what is perceived to be a better resourced care environment offering greater levels of job satisfaction. Whatever the reasons may be the consequences for the developing country losing a skilled and knowledgeable labour force is that standards of care of the mentally ill and their families inevitably continue to deteriorate. The KTC ‘BRAIN GAIN’ in Mental Health Care in developing countries initiative sets out to address this problem. KTC expert personnel will travel to those countries we seek to partner with, starting with the Gambia and Sri Lanka.

Training programmes will be developed and delivered following a Skills Analysis exercise. KTC is committed to the idea that education and training, in partnership, will make a positive contribution to enhancing the standards of care of the mentally ill in those countries. This will lead to greater levels of job satisfaction, thus minimizing the urge to migrate to work in developed countries in the belief that the conditions in those countries favour high quality care, greater job satisfaction and financial rewards.

The BRAIN GAIN initiative is KTC’s contribution to stemming BRAIND DRAIN in the specific field of the care of the mentally ill in developing countries.

We have a future plan in place to bring mental health carers in those countries to the UK for 6 month placements in mental health care settings. This is to enable exposure to the care of the mentally ill in the UK in the hope that examples of good practice can be observed and taken back home. Implementing this will require Home Office approval.