SUKKUR: As many as 20 out of 30 districts of Sindh do not have mental health facilities, while one of the most underprivileged districts, Tharparkar, has taken the lead to initiate the provision of sustained mental health programme through a network of health workforce.
During the concluding ceremony of a three-day training workshop on ‘Telehelp Services on Mental Health’, Chairman, Sindh Mental Health Authority (SMHA), Senator Dr Karim Khawaja, said the mental health facilities would be provided through a multi-level partnership, including SMHA, Thar Foundation, Sindh Health Department, Civil Hospital Mithi, Sir Cowasjee Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Hyderabad (SCIPBS), and Liaquat University of Medical & Health Licenses (LUMHS). He said the services would connect the mental health patients with the health professionals at various levels through a network of lady health workers across the Tharparkar district.
Senator Dr Karim said they would launch the first-ever data on the state of mental health in Sindh next month, which would reveal astonishing figures on the issue, as the mental health service has so far been the less attentive area in Pakistan, which needed immediate attention. He added that Sindh’s 20 districts out of 30 have no psychiatrists in the public sector health facilities. DHO Tharparkar, Dr Gordhan Das, said the initiative would help support mental health trends on regular basis and also minimise the increasing trend of suicides in Tharparkar through the provision of proactive counseling and treatment to identified patients.