The Caretaker Chief Minister, Azam Khan has expressed concern about growing global prevalence of mental illnesses and noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, along with the entire country, faces this challenge. He expressed this while inaugurating the first Institute of Mental Health Sciences in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has operationalized the newly established Institute of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences (IMHBS) Peshawar which is first of its kind in the province. The caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan formally inaugurated the institute in a ceremony held here the other day.
Apart from providing quality treatment facilities to mentally-ill people, the institute will also offer a comprehensive professional development and academic programs including diplomas and degrees in bachelor, masters and doctorate to all cadres of health providers involved in providing mental health services. Besides emergency unit, OPD, ICU, Psychiatric Unit, Family Counseling, Rehabilitation Centre and other related specialties would also be available in the institute. Initially, OPD services have been started whereas the rest of the aforementioned services would be started in a phased manner.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of IMHBS; the Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan termed the establishment of the institute as a milestone achievement and a good addition in Health Service Delivery System of the province and said that establishment of such an institute was a dire need of the day and added that people grappling with mental challenges will have state of the art healthcare facilities in the newly established institute.
