ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that the Ministry of National Health Services may constitute a committee, Regulations, and Coordination on mental health, with members from public and private stakeholders to create different ideas, solutions, and to come up with comprehensive plans to provide Mental Health counseling and services to the patients of mental health diseases.
President stated that in the case of mental health diseases, Pakistan had limited resources to tackle the impacts of mental health diseases as an estimated 80% of people with Mental Health diseases remain untreated.
Dr. Alvi said there is a need to increase the human resource of psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors on a top priority basis to ensure the accessibility of mental health medical services and treatment to patients, especially patients from underdeveloped areas of the country.
President also said that ensuring good mental health services and treatment to the population at priority basis will help increase the nation’s productivity.
Dr. Alvi presided over a meeting on mental health services today at President House Islamabad in which officials of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), World Health Organization (WHO), Pakistan Psychiatric Society (PPS), Taskeen Health Initiative, and other organizations.
President Alvi stressed the need to develop and create mental health providers with the capabilities to early diagnose and treat mental health diseases at the primary level to cure the disease at its initial stages, to eliminate disease before it reaches an advanced level which requires expensive curative treatment.
In this regard, Dr. Alvi said that all available training resources within the private and public sectors of the mental health providers of Pakistan and global online training facilities would be exploited to create a critical mass of mental health providers immediately.
Mental Health Services and Information Technology
President Dr. Alvi said that web-based applications and information communication technologies, including chatbots and other IT-based applications, may also be fully incorporated into the health system to make possible the first respondent to help patients suffering from mental health diseases. President also said that immediate services could treat 45 to 50% of people suffering from mental health issues.
President Alvi said there was a need to create synergy among the stakeholders and determine the mental health burden, take stock of all the resources, both online and web-based, total human resources available, and how to increase human resources commensurate to the needs of the people.
Dr. Alvi said that a technical knowledge base and professional help might also be obtained from the World Health Organization and other international health organizations in the context of mental health disease.
President Alvi said the steps might be taken to include child abuse, drug use, and behavioral and mental disorders in the overall system of Mental Health through maintaining high quality and upholding ethical standards and protocols.
Earlier, the Ministry of Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Taskeen Health Initiative, and Omang Pakistan, in their separate presentations, discussed mental health education, shared their views on mental health services delivery and the need for forging purpose-based integrated collaborations among all stakeholders for the provision of mental health facilities at the grassroots levels. APP
