LARKANA: A seminar on mental health was held at Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) on Monday to in preparation of World Mental Health Day, which is held on 10 October. Speaking at the occasion, Department of Psychiatry Chairman Dr.
Badar Uddin Junejo warned that mental health problems were on the rise. He said that the increase in mental health issues could be attributed to a number of factors, including poverty, unemployment, terrorism and drug use, adding that around 15 million people in Pakistan were already suffering mental health issues and that this number constituted 10 to 15 percent of the country’s population. He said that most of Pakistan’s psychiatric patients suffered from depression and anxiety disorders but there were also a large number of people suffering from psychotic disorders, personality disorders, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse addiction.
Junejo lamented that there were only 400 psychiatrists were working in Pakistan, which means that one psychiatrist is available for every 500,000 people and every 10,000 psychiatric patients. He informed the seminar’s participants that it is estimated that every fourth person in the world is suffering from mental health issues today, with depression as the most commonly occurring mental health problem worldwide according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). He said that the theme at the SMBBMU Department of Psychiatry on Mental Health Day this year would be ‘Mental Health in the Workplace’. Junejo added that a healthy environment at the workplace was vital for an institution’s employee’s mental health and that mentally healthy employees are more productive. He commended the SMBBMU Department of Psychiatry for it’s services to psychiatric patients, specifically the ‘SOUL’ programme which has been caring for and providing treatment to schizophrenia patients for the past eight years.
Published in Daily Times, October 10th 2017.
