Formation of national strategy to counter ‘mental health issues’ need of hour: Minister

On Apr 7, 2023

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel addressing the launching ceremony of PM Strategic reforms initiative for citizens mental wellbeing web based application (Humraz) and Integrated helpline 1166 on world Health day 2023. APP Photo

KARACHI (UNA): Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel on Friday said that a comprehensive national strategy on mental health issues is a need of the hour, therefore, a seminar will be organized after this Eid-ul-Fitr to take inputs from the experts about the future course of action on mental health issues.
He was addressing the launching ceremony of ‘PM Strategic Reforms Initiative for Citizens Mental Wellbeing’ Web-based application Humraz Mental Health App and Integrated Helpline 1166 on World Health Day -2023, at a hotel here.
Speaking about Hamraz Mental Health App and Integrated Helpline 1166, the federal health minister termed it as a good step in the right direction and said an awareness campaign should also be launched for its promotion and its advertisements should go on-air on television channels during talk shows. Abdul Qadir Patel said that we started work on mental health issues, particularly, keeping in view the sufferings of the patients and our initiative would appear as the first brick of the building.
He said that we would have to keep working on this cause of facilitating mentally ill people as these issues were ignored in the past, he observed. It is also a hard task to find medicines for the patient with mental illness in Pakistan, it is indeed very painful, he added.
The minister said that we want to do something for mental health issues to proceed further towards a better future of our coming generations.
Speaking about the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Pakistan, the minister said that around 350,000 to 400,000 children are suffering from ASD in Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention that we do not even have an Urdu word for Autism, he added. He said that work is also being done on Autism in Sindh and we have a dedicated unit on it in the DOW Institute of Health Science in Karachi.
He said that we have excellent coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and both these organizations always helped Pakistan in all testing situations, he added.