PESHAWAR, Nov 13: The North-West Frontier Province does not have sufficient number of psychiatrics and support staff to take care of people suffering from psychological disorders because of the trauma they underwent as a result of last month’s earthquake.

Provincial health department officials told this correspondent that the traumatised people of the quake-hit areas of the province were prone to psychological disorders with the health department appearing to be unable to deal with the situation.

In view of the number of people affected by the quake, the health department lacked capacity to cater to the patients facing psychological disorders, said the experts.

The number of such cases in the quake-hit areas was likely to record a substantial increase in the weeks to come, said officials of the health department.

They based the apprehension on the ground that a large number of people had lost one or more family members, hundreds of thousands had been rendered homeless and many had lost all their belongings and businesses. A larger number of people had lost their abodes and most of the affected people were uncertain about their future as they would need to start from the scratch.

“Research shows that in a post-disaster situation, the rate of prevalence of psychological disorder cases goes up to 30 to 40 per cent,” said Dr Saeed Farooq, associate professor and head of the department of psychiatry in Lady Reading Hospital.

“As one million people have been affected in the NWFP, the number of people facing psychological disorders because of their personal trauma is likely to grow, requiring a major effort to get ready to provide medical care to such patients,” he added.

Experts said that negligence in this regard could result in leaving a large number of people with psychiatric problems for the rest of their lives.