ill, Lady Waddington told Hamilton Rotarians yesterday.

In the context of Mental Health Week, she praised St. Brendan's Hospital which she said delivered the best in medical care and was staffed by a team of dedicated psychiatric doctors and nurses.

"Most islands in the world are not lucky enough to have a separate psychiatric facility like St. Brendan's to care for the mentally ill,'' said Lady Waddington, honourary chairman of the newly formed Mental Health Foundation.

"For a place of Bermuda's size, we are extremely lucky to have two excellent hospital properly equipped and resourced to deliver the best in medical care.'' In speaking out on the plight of the mentally ill she said society should broach the problem head on by investing in a cure and destigmatising the illness.

Otherwise, she said, the mentally ill would continue to languish at the bottom of the heap of society.

"Psychiatric illness is the Cinderella of every health service in the world,'' she said. "There are no votes in mental illness, no lobby for the mentally ill and a terrible stigma that prevents anyone admitting there is anything wrong.

"They and their families are an invisible underclass condemned to a fate worse then death in the midst of usually caring societies.'' But she said it was necessary to understand the differences between the mentally handicapped and the mentally ill.

The former, who are handicapped from birth with brain damage or Down's Syndrome, are championed by numerous charitable organisations she said.

But the mentally ill typically develop illnesses such as schizophrenia in their teens or early 20s and are often neglected.

The most extreme sufferers of mental illness may live in the community with medication and supervision but are never free of the illness.

Lady Waddington told Rotarians it was this group that concerns society most as the mentally ill are often homeless or fill up hospitals and prisons.

"These people, in the main, are very badly misunderstood, lonely and poverty stricken and desperately need our understanding and compassion,'' she said.

"They are as much our responsibility as the mentally handicapped who are on the whole well-identified, well-resourced and embraced by the community.'' She said the answer lay in researching drugs which alleviated the symptoms of mental illness without condemning the patient to a life of drug-induced torpor.

Drugs which have in the past kept sufferers in a "drug-induced straight jacket'' should be used to help them lead productive lives.

Worst of all, she said, mental illness can hit young people after considerable investment has been made in their upbringing and education.

"Their illness becomes a drain on the health service, the social services and in some cases the Police and prison services. What a dreadful waste of scarce resources,'' she said.

"How much cheaper it would be to find a cure or at least a way to ensure that sufferers are treated in hospital with up-to-date drugs that will enable them to be stabilised and then returned with support to their family or to accommodation that is suitable for their needs.'' Lady Waddington