KARACHI, Sept 18: Pakistan needs an adequate and comprehensive mental health policy to contain the constant surge in the cases of a wide range of mental ailments.

This was stated by chairman of the Psychiatry Department of Aga Khan University Murad Musa Khan while speaking at a news conference here on Thursday.

According to him, depression, prevalent considerably among locals, followed by schizophrenia, mental retardation and psychosomatic disorders makes it necessary to involve communities, medical professionals and policy makers to chalk out a strategy in the larger public interest.

It is in the given scenario that the AKU has arranged its ‘Annual Symposium-2003’ on the theme Mental Health — Understanding the Challenges, he said.

He said that while by the year 2020, depression might emerge as the second commonest ailment around the world. —APP