Around 24m People in Pak Need Psychiatric Care

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by Seemab Chaudhary

28-10-2022
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Iba organized a symposium about mental health awareness for the people in Pakistan. The symposium included a discussion by guest speakers, including Consultant Psychiatrist AKUH Dr. Shireen Najam, Dr. Nargis Asad of the AKUH, Country Director Interactive Research and Development Pakistan Aneet Pasha and Chief Executive Officer Karachi Down Syndrome Progamme (KDSP) Samar Naqvi, on the mental health of people in Pakistan. They also compromised the brief talks about factors associated with psychiatric care.

The importance of mental health and how it can affect overall health was also discussed by Dr. Sahar Nadeem, the chairperson of the Department of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts. She added, “24 million people in Pakistan need psychiatric care, and the availability of trained mental health professionals was far less than the demand. But the country had only 0/19 psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants.”

 

The merging mental health issues have discorded on a presidential level as well, where President Alvi urged for an attempted mental health awareness call.

At the conference, Pasha also spoke about the mental health importance and how crucial it is to spread awareness in the workplace. She also stated, “many organizations and individuals in the world were unaware of mental health issues, and organizations considered people with mental health issues dispensable.” Pasha also emphasized that a proper model plan is required and organizations must invest in the mental health and well-being of their employees by introducing a humanistic value system.

The CEO of KDSP shared that “1 in 7 people had some form of disability, and more than eight percent resided in developing countries.” She also said that people with disabilities feel a lack of belonging and they need to be supported.

The first segment of the symposium is the mental health awareness program establishment, but the second segment was a panel discussion. 

The audience also participated with some queries and also shared how to provide a better platform to spread mental health awareness. The counselors at IBA also help the students to cope with daily stressors and mental disorders.