corruption,” he said, adding that even doctors are bribed by multinational companies who send them abroad in return for them prescribing the companies’ medicines.
“Mental health should not been seen in isolation,” he said, adding that it needs to be integrated into the primary health category.
“The moral values of a society can be measured by how it treats vulnerable individuals,” he observed.
Communication officer at Karwan-e-Hayat, Sumera Naqvi, in her introductory remarks said, perhaps, it was fear and stigma due to which a person tries to hide mental illness.
Dr Saadia Quraishy, CEO Aman Health, said Mental Health Day was observed on October 10 but in many countries it was celebrated throughout the week. She said globally as many as 450 million people suffer from mental illness, adding that depression would become the second most prevalent disease globally by the year 2030.
She said depression not only impacts Pakistani society but also our economy as productive workers were lost. She called for better trained GPs and said that as the state was shirking its responsibilities, NGOs were trying to fill the void.
Dr Saadia said it was essentially due to the efforts of Pakistan Association of Mental Health President Prof S Haroon Ahmed that mental health legislation had been passed in the province, adding that though it was a major achievement, it needed to be adopted by other provinces too.
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