Taking care

Increasing suicide cases in the country highlight the fact that the healthcare authorities have not taken any action to respond to people’s mental health issues. When we talk about mental health, we suggest that people who are suffering from depression or anxiety should see a psychiatrist. But we often forget to talk about the per session cost of these specialists. In a country of more than 200 million people, only a few hundred psychologists and psychiatrist are running their clinics.

Because of this imbalance of supply and demand, specialists’ fee is a bit higher. Unfortunately, both the federal and provincial governments haven’t taken any step to establish psychiatric hospitals for people with mental illness. The authorities concerned have to take step at the national level to provide affordable medical facilities to people who are suffering from mental illness.

Nida Nawaz

Karachi