October 13, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 30, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Oct 12: There is no mental health policy for adolescent and children in the country where almost half of its population is under 18 (45 million persons) and no trained child and adolescent psychiatrist in the public sector.

This was observed in a one-day workshop for paediatricians of Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) and Allied Hospitals regarding mental health issues of children and adolescents.

The workshop was conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry, Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH), on Friday in connection with the World Mental Health Day observed on October 10.

According to a press release, Dr Fareed Aslam Minhas, head of the Institute of Psychiatry, while presiding over the workshop, pointed out that according to the world health report, 2001, about 10-20 per cent children suffered from mental and behavioural problems.

He said every one in 10 young people suffered from mental illness which was severe enough to cause certain level of impairment, yet less than one in five received the needed treatment.

He further highlighted that these disorders were costing the society both in human and financial terms. He pointed out that because of these untreated conditions in childhood, children could develop psychiatric disorders in their adulthood.

He regretted the non-existence of any mental health policy for children and adolescents that are almost half of the population in Pakistan. Ironically there is no trained child and adolescent psychiatrist in the public sector, which resulted in lack of training programme in the child and adolescent psychiatry.

The aim of the workshop was to create awareness among the paediatricians regarding the prevalent mental health disorders of childhood and adolescence.

The workshop was attended by about 20 paediatricians from the allied hospitals, besides the faculty of the Institute of Psychiatry, Rawalpindi General Hospital. The workshop was facilitated by Dr Asad Tameezuddin, assistant professor, and Dr Ayesha Minhas, senior registrar with special interest in child psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry.

The Institute of Psychiatry has a child psychiatric clinic being run in collaboration with the University of Manchester, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. This has led to formation of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Special Interest Group (CAPSIG) in the institute. A separate out-patient department catering to the mental health needs of children and adolescents is present.

This clinic is regularly conducted each week which in addition to treatment provides information to health professionals about psychiatric disorders in children, said Dr Minhas.

He further said in the year 2006, a total of 1,342 child and adolescent cases were observed, 824 were old patients whereas 518 were new patients. Out of all the patients seen, 669 (49.85 per cent) were male and 673 (50.14 per cent) were female. The average number of patients seen each month was 111.80. Majority of patients were residents of Rawalpindi (86.14 per cent) while remaining came from areas like Gujar Khan, Attock, Abbotabad, Mandra, Murree, Azad Kashmir, Mandi Bahauddin, Kahuta, Wah and Hassanabdal.

The facility has resulted in the capacity-building of the staff, provision of services and has led to research in these areas which has been published in international scientific journals, he added.

Dr Asad Tameezuddin highlighted the importance of creating a liaison between the paediatrics departments and Institute of Psychiatry. Dr Ayesha provided information about the commonly prevalent psychiatric disorders among children and adolescence. They gave an overview of the common presentations regarding the management of various disorders.