David Burt has emphasised the importance of addressing mental health challenges among Bermuda’s youth and said that funding was being set aside to bolster healthcare staff numbers.

The Premier was speaking during an interview with Trevor Lindsay on TNN yesterday.

He told Mr Lindsay that funds were being set aside from the investment package of $25 million announced last week to allow for the hiring of mental health staff.

Mr Burt said the Government “has to be competitive” and be able to offer salaries to attract staff to tackle issues that MPs were increasingly hearing about on the doorstep.

He added: “It is certainly something that we are committed to, so this additional funding will allow for hiring of qualified locals. We are making sure that we are restoring funding to hire some additional posts.

“We are also making sure that we can boost salaries in particular areas. I will be speaking on it in Parliament tomorrow about the Public Service Strategic Plan, but we have been going through a strategic review looking at hard-to-fill roles inside of government.

“We have engaged on a broad process on reforming how we think about public sector salaries to make sure that they can be competitive in the areas which there is strong competition with the private sector, such as matters related to healthcare.”

The midyear Budget review unveiled last week set aside $2.29 million for the Ministry of Health, mainly for mental health support.

The Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute was marked for $350,000.

The multimillion-dollar package will also come with infrastructure funding.

A recent study of pupils aged 10 to 19 showed that 31 per cent of those surveyed had “moderate to severe” symptoms of depression or anxiety.

Mr Burt said programmes were to be expanded.

He added: “The programmes will certainly be administered through the Bermuda Hospitals Board, through community partners and also through the Ministry of Health and in consultation with our schools as well, when tackling matters related to young mental health.

“We know that social media has contributed to a significant deterioration of mental health, especially in adolescent females and it is important that we put resources in to address.”

He warned that failure to deal swiftly with health issues would mean that “they will manifest themselves in 20 years”.

Mr Burt said that the midyear Budget would bring extra support for trauma counselling services, programmes to combat domestic violence and more resources for teachers and social workers.

In the Department of Corrections, $400,000 was earmarked for inmate rehabilitation, and $300,000 for addiction intervention in the Department of National Drug Control.

Mr Burt told TNN that the funding would help to expand existing programmes and revealed that some inmates had already begin training in the fintech field.

He said a boost to the police budget would go some way to helping to address the wave of violent crime that has swept through Bermuda in recent months.

However, he added that one of the root causes has been the high cost of living, which he said the Progressive Labour Party was striving to address.

Mr Lindsay questioned Mr Burt about when a General Election might be expected.

Mr Burt responded: “There will be a General Election in Bermuda before February 2026.

“But we are not focused on an election, we are focused on delivering ‒ this PLP Government has always been focused on the working people of Bermuda.”