Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah on Saturday inaugurated a tele-service for psychological help and counseling.The service that can be reached by dialing 109 on your phones is designed to relive stress and address physiological issues that people suffering from coronavirus may go through.
The service has been launched with contributions from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and National Urban Development Project (NUDP).The launching ceremony was attended by Minister Local Government Nasir Shah, Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Minister Local Government Saeed Ghani, Advisor law Murtaza Wahab, Secretary Local Government Roshan Shaikh and others.
Minister Local Government and Information Syed Nasir Shah briefing the chief minister about the features of Counselling and Psycho-social Support Service for the people of the province who are under trauma and depression due to the current corona virus crisis, said the target groups would be Coronavirus patients under isolation, people under quarantine and people who get depression and other psychological issues during lockdown.
Nasir Shah said that 100,000 affected children, women and men mainly through online platform would be counselled.The local government has 25 psychologists/psychiatrists and around 50 to 70 volunteer counselors which include doctors, professors, motivators, trainers, celebrities from every walk of life.
The Local Government Minister told the Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah that online platform includes website and android application for awareness. For referral mechanism linkages with other services providers have been made.
The chief minister said that the Counseling & Psycho-social support service was most important during the COVID-19 emergency. “This situation has left adverse effects on human psyche, therefore counselling by experts would be of great help,” he said.The chief minister thanked the UNICEF & UNDP for their support and cooperation.
