PESHAWAR, Sept 23: Afghan doctors have expressed concern over the growing number of people afflicted by depression in Afghanistan.
They have asked the World Health Organization to make arrangements for the treatment of affected people and put brakes on further growth of psychiatric ailments in the war-battered country.
"Most Afghans are facing problems of depression and anxiety because of 26 years of war," said Dr Mohammad Zafar, member of an Afghan delegation which visited the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) on Thursday.
The hospital's chief executive Prof Dr Abdul Samad offered to train Afghan doctors in the treatment of psychiatry-related ailments. Dr Zafar noted that WHO was emphasizing on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis but had ignored depression and anxiety which were prevalent among Afghans.
"Afghanistan also needs WHO's support for the treatment of drug addicts whose numbers have grown alarmingly because of large-scale unemployment and lack of peace," he said.
He said the Afghan government had included psychiatry ailments in its primary healthcare programme which was a proof that it was according top priority to these illnesses.
He said the Afghan government was giving special attention to the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts. "Without this effort, the process of Afghanistan's reconstruction could not materialize," he remarked.
The young generation, he said, also faced problems of settling down in their own country as they had been living in foreign countries and were now unwilling to migrate to their homeland.
The Afghan doctors' team was shown around the LRH's psychiatry ward where they were briefed by psychiatrist Saeed Farooq. Dr Abdul Samad assured Afghan doctors that they were ready to impart training to health professionals from Afghanistan in different medical disciplines. He said that workshops and seminars would be arranged to provide the much-needed training to Afghan doctors.
