RMU, WHO to launch Mental Health Diploma for GPs to overcome treatment gap

Rawalpindi : To overcome problem of treatment gap and lack of specialized services for patients living with psychiatric disorders particularly mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) disorders, Rawalpindi Medical University in collaboration with World Health Organization is going to launch a comprehensive plan of Mental Health Diploma Certification for General Medical Practitioners.

A large majority of persons with mental and substance use disorders lack access to decent services and effective interventions with the ‘treatment gap’ estimated to be around 75-86 per cent especially in lower middle income countries including Pakistan while mental, neurological and substance use (MNS) disorders account for 10.4 per cent of total disease burden as measured by Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), peaking in early adulthood (20-30 years of age).

To compensate for this treatment gap, general practitioners and family physicians will be trained to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes relevant to provide mental health care within Primary Health Care settings along with supervisory and referral support to their peers and to act as a bridge between specialists and health care workers, said Director at WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research and Training and Director Centre for Global Mental Health Pakistan Professor Fareed Aslam Minhas while talking to ‘The News’ on Friday.

He said the training will be based on the WHO mhGAP guidelines (mhGAP-Intervention Guide and mhGAP-Humanitarian Intervention Guide). Total duration of the training would be six months consisting of theoretical teaching, clinical training, and supervision components with the cadre of family physicians, general practitioners and specialized physicians in the fields other than psychiatry and neurology, he said.

He added the enhanced curriculum being designed for the course would also emerge as a cornerstone for provision of template for review and strengthening of the mental health component in the existing training programmes for family physicians and undergraduates.

Giving details, he said after the training, the trained GPs would be able to understand the significance of the public health dimension of mental health including prevention of mental illness and the promotion of mental health. The GPs would also become able to demonstrate working knowledge of the common presentations and assessment strategies for priority MNS disorders, he said.

The course would enable GPs to provide diagnostic, curative, preventative and promotional services for patients with MNS disorders within a multidisciplinary work environment along with providing supportive supervision to peers in PHC and general healthcare settings as well as upstream and downstream referral support and coordination, said Professor Minhas.

He said a meeting is being held in WHO country office to finalise the arrangements for the course to be initiated. WHO’s Country Representative Dr. Nima Saeed, WHO’s Regional Advisor for Mental Health, Egypt Dr. Khalid Saeed, Vice Chancellor at RMU Professor Mohammad Umer, Professor Fareed Minhas and Professor Mowadat Hussain Rana will present the syllabus for the course in the meeting.

Representatives from family physicians association, Pakistan Medical & Dental Council, Higher Education Commission and HEC would also attend the meeting, said Professor Minhas.