Sindh Caretaker Minister of Health and Social Welfare Dr Saad Khalid Niaz launched Sindh Mental Health Policy containing guidelines and measures to deal with psychological issues. Sindh Health department has launched the policy in collaboration with Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning (PILL) at a ceremony held here at Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi, said a statement issued here. Sindh Caretaker Education Minister Rana Hussain, Vice Chancellor Dow University Professor Saeed Qureshi, Head of PILL Professor Naseem Chaudhry and a large number of psychologists, doctors, teachers and students attended the ceremony.
Dr Saad Khalid Niaz, speaking at the occasion, expressed concerns over a report by experts that 24 million people in Pakistan were suffering from psychological issues and stressed the need of taking steps at government level to deal with the issue. He informed that government initially worked on the registry as to increasing incidents of suicide in the province and later a policy about use of narcotic substances was framed as well. The finding suggested that psychological issues were major reason in both the cases so Sindh Mental Health Policy has been officially launched, the minster said and expressed gratitude to all the psychologists involved in the policy making process. Referring to issue of misuse of industrial purpose chemicals he said that industries were importing various chemicals in bulk quantity and ANF has revealed that some of those chemical substances were being used for manufacturing of narcotics substances.
The health ministry was looking into the matter and trying to find viable solution of the problem in consultation with department of commerce and industries and Anti Narcotics Force Sindh. Caretaker Education Minister Rana Hussain said that nowadays people were afraid of technology and innovation while it is a fact that not every child can become a doctor or an engineer. These factors were also affecting the mental health of children and parents, she added and vowed that every possible measure will be taken by the Education Department to improve the mental health of teachers, parents and children. VC Dow University Prof. Saeed Qureshi said that the university has introduced BS Clinical Psychology course as part of efforts aimed at improving the mental health of the population and the field of psychiatry in Sindh.
CEO PILL Professor Naseem Chaudhry said that mental illnesses were increasing in the world and one out of every eight people worldwide was suffering from mental disorders while 24 million people in Pakistan were affected by mental issues. We are working on mental health issues particularly on the mental health of patients with heart disease, burn victims from accidents and women affected by breast cancer.
