When someone in Port Harcourt needs a psychiatrist rather than a therapist, the question is where to go and what will happen when you get there. Here is what we could confirm from the hospitals’ own websites, and what we couldn’t.
The main public psychiatric service in Port Harcourt is the Neuropsychiatric Clinic at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) on the East-West Road, which runs clinics every weekday and takes emergencies around the clock. Rivers State’s own Neuropsychiatric Hospital at Rumuigbo has no website, so we couldn’t confirm its details. A private psychiatric clinic operates in Rumuibekwe.
Psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist: who do you need?
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specialises in mental health. Psychiatrists can diagnose, prescribe medication, order tests and admit someone to hospital. Psychologists, counsellors and therapists provide talking therapy and don’t prescribe.
See a psychiatrist, usually at a hospital, when:
- Someone is hearing or seeing things others don’t, or holds fixed beliefs that aren’t true, such as being poisoned or followed.
- Someone is unusually elated, sleepless and reckless for days, or the reverse: so low they can’t eat, work or get out of bed.
- There are thoughts of suicide with a plan.
- Someone needs to come off alcohol, tramadol, codeine or sedatives, which can need medical supervision.
- Someone may need medication, or their current medication needs reviewing.
- An older relative is becoming confused or forgetful.
For most other problems, such as anxiety, low mood, grief, stress or relationship trouble, a therapist is a good place to start, and many people see both. Our guide to therapists, counsellors and psychiatrists explains the difference, and therapy or medication? covers how the two work together.
University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH)
Federal teaching hospital. East-West Road, opposite Alakahia Junction, Port Harcourt. The hospital says it is open 24 hours a day, every day.
UPTH is the one public psychiatric service in the city whose details we could confirm, so most of this guide is about what to expect there.
What’s there
The hospital’s Neuropsychiatric Clinic provides what it calls “Mental Health & Psychiatric Services”. Its published clinic schedule covers depression, anxiety and panic, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and related conditions, dementia, substance-related problems, and a Thursday clinic that includes autism, seizure disorders and speech delay in children. In practice that means adult psychiatry, care for older adults, some child and adolescent work and addiction care all run from the same clinic.
Clinic days
The hospital publishes a day-by-day schedule for the clinic. It groups conditions by day, which is how the hospital organises its consultants’ time, not a rule about what you can be seen for.
| Day | What the hospital lists |
|---|---|
| Monday | Schizophrenia, substance-induced conditions, panic attacks, severe anxiety, schizoaffective disorder |
| Tuesday | Generalised anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, mixed anxiety and depression |
| Wednesday | Mixed anxiety and depression, schizophrenia, depression, dementia |
| Thursday | Autism spectrum disorders, acute psychiatric conditions, seizure disorders, recurrent depression, speech delays |
| Friday | Bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, multiple substance use, depression |
If it’s your first visit, don’t worry about matching the day to the condition. Go, register, and the clinic will book you into the right day for follow-ups.
Suggested read: Psychiatric Hospitals in Benin City: Where to Get Help
How to get seen
UPTH’s website doesn’t publish a separate registration guide for psychiatry, so this is the usual teaching-hospital route:
- Emergencies go to Accident and Emergency, which runs 24 hours. You can come on your own or be brought by family.
- Non-emergencies usually start at the General Outpatient Department (family medicine), where a doctor assesses you and refers you to the Neuropsychiatric Clinic. If you already have a referral letter from another hospital or a doctor, bring it; it can send you to the clinic directly.
- You register, pay a registration fee, and get a hospital card and folder.
- A nurse checks your blood pressure, pulse and temperature, then a doctor sees you.
- You leave with an appointment card for the clinic day that fits your case.
Call before you go to check which door to use for a first psychiatric visit. First visits at a teaching hospital can take most of a day, so go early and eat before you leave home.
Contact
- Phone: 0701 020 7377 (main line, listed as 24 hours) and 0818 269 2056, which the hospital lists for emergency cases.
- Address: East-West Road, opposite Alakahia Junction, P.M.B. 6173, Port Harcourt.
The hospital doesn’t publish a direct number for the Neuropsychiatric Clinic, and it doesn’t publish its fees.
Last checked: 3 November 2026, from upth.gov.ng.
Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Rumuigbo
This is Rivers State’s own psychiatric hospital, in Rumuigbo, Obio/Akpor, and for many people in Port Harcourt it is the first name that comes to mind. We have to be honest about what we could confirm: the hospital has no website, the Rivers State government’s site lists nothing about it, and the state Ministry of Health’s old website no longer works.
Press reports from 2024 to 2026 say the state government rebuilt the complex and reopened it with a rehabilitation centre. We couldn’t confirm an address, a phone number, clinic days or what services are running now from any official page, so we haven’t listed any. If you know the hospital, go in person and ask at the records office. If you don’t, UPTH is the surer first stop, and its doctors can refer you.
We’ll update this section when the hospital or the state publishes its details.
Private psychiatric care in Port Harcourt
We haven’t inspected this clinic, and a listing here isn’t a recommendation. Before you commit, ask who the psychiatrist is, ask to see its current registration with the Rivers State Ministry of Health, and ask what a consultation and any admission will cost.
- Synapse Japonica, Rumuibekwe. 5B Rumuibekwe Road, Rumuibekwe. The Port Harcourt branch of Synapse Services, a private psychiatric group that also runs units in Abuja, Lagos and Anambra. Its site lists general adult psychiatry, drug addiction treatment and rehabilitation, a nicotine clinic, child and adolescent mental health, ADHD treatment for adults and children, and an employee assistance programme, with a consultant psychiatrist and clinical psychologists on staff. Phone 0905 681 1133. Email japonica@synapseservices.org. Fees aren’t published.
Last checked: 3 November 2026, from japonica.synapseservices.org.
What to bring to a first visit
- Any referral letter or previous hospital records.
- A list of the medicines you or your relative have been taking.
- Someone who knows what has been happening, especially if the person who is unwell can’t explain it clearly.
- Money for registration, consultation, tests and medicines. Neither hospital publishes its fees, so call ahead.
- Water, a snack and a charged phone.
If admission comes up
Nigeria’s National Mental Health Act protects people in hospital:
Suggested read: Psychiatric Hospitals in Nigeria: The Full List by Region
- Treatment needs your informed, written consent, after the options, risks and costs have been explained.
- If you were admitted voluntarily and ask to leave, the hospital must let you go within 24 hours, unless you meet the Act’s strict conditions for involuntary care.
- Admission against someone’s will is allowed only in narrow circumstances, such as a serious likelihood of imminent harm, and it can be appealed to the national Mental Health Assessment Committee.
- People have the right to visitors in private, though visits can be supervised if there’s a risk of violence.
- Nobody may be chained or shackled, anywhere.
Drug and alcohol help
UPTH’s clinic sees substance-related problems on several days of the week, and Synapse Japonica runs addiction treatment and rehabilitation. Stopping alcohol or sedatives suddenly can be dangerous, and coming off opioid painkillers such as tramadol is safer with medical support, so start with a doctor. Our guide to choosing a rehab centre in Nigeria explains what good treatment looks like, and our page on addiction covers the options.
What it costs
Neither UPTH nor Synapse Japonica publishes its fees. Public hospitals charge for registration, consultations, tests, medicines and admission. Private clinics usually cost more. Ask for the cost of registration, a consultation and, if needed, admission before you go.
If you’re on NHIA, the standard benefit package includes consultations with specialists, psychiatrists among them. Ward stays are capped at 21 days a year and need a referral, and higher-level services need your HMO’s approval. Private HMO plans vary, and many limit mental health care. Ask your HMO and the hospital’s NHIA desk before you rely on cover. Our guide to whether your HMO covers therapy shows what to ask.
If it’s an emergency now
- If someone is in immediate danger, call 112.
- Psychiatric emergencies: UPTH’s Accident and Emergency on the East-West Road runs 24 hours, or go to the nearest hospital A&E. The hospital’s emergency line is 0818 269 2056.
- To talk to someone now: Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000 is toll-free and answered 24 hours a day. Our helplines page lists other Nigerian crisis lines.
Where Mytherapist.ng fits
Our therapists provide talking therapy. They don’t prescribe medication or admit anyone to hospital. If you need a psychiatrist, start with UPTH. Therapy can run alongside psychiatric treatment, and you can find a therapist online from anywhere in Rivers State. If psychosis is part of the picture, read about schizophrenia. For other cities, see our guides to psychiatric hospitals in Lagos and in Abuja, our piece on what to expect at Yaba Left, and the national list of psychiatric hospitals in Nigeria.
Addresses and phone numbers were taken from each hospital’s own website. Last checked by phone: [DATE: fill in before publishing]. Numbers change, so call before you travel.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a psychiatric hospital in Port Harcourt?
Yes. Rivers State runs the Neuropsychiatric Hospital at Rumuigbo, and the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital runs a Neuropsychiatric Clinic on the East-West Road. Only UPTH publishes its details online.
Where is the psychiatric hospital in Rivers State?
The state’s Neuropsychiatric Hospital is in Rumuigbo, in Obio/Akpor. It has no website and we couldn’t confirm its current address, phone number or services, so ask locally or start at UPTH.
Can I go to UPTH for a mental health problem without a referral?
In an emergency, yes: Accident and Emergency runs 24 hours. For a routine first visit, you usually start at the General Outpatient Department and are referred to the Neuropsychiatric Clinic. A referral letter from another doctor can take you there directly. Call first to check.
Which day is the psychiatric clinic at UPTH?
Every weekday. The hospital groups conditions by day, for example depression and bipolar disorder on Tuesdays and children’s conditions such as autism on Thursdays, but a first visit can happen on any day and the clinic books your follow-ups.
Is there a private psychiatric hospital in Port Harcourt?
Synapse Japonica in Rumuibekwe is a private psychiatric clinic and rehabilitation centre with a consultant psychiatrist. We haven’t inspected it, so ask about its registration and fees before you commit.
Suggested read: Psychiatric Hospitals in Ibadan: UCH and Where Else to Go
This article is awaiting clinical review. It’s based on published research and health guidelines, and we’ll update it once a clinician has reviewed it.
