ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has decided to arrange training programmes for the teachers on handling child’s neuro developmental problems.

This was stated by the head of Pims public health department, Dr Altaf Hussain, while speaking at a workshop on neuro developmental problems organised by Pims on Tuesday.

Dr Altaf said as children spent most of their time in schools so teachers could easily observe any behavioural change in them.

“The motive behind holding the five-day conference was to give basic knowledge to the medical students about the neuro issues and prepare them to deal with patients having neuro disabilities,” he said.

Consultant at Family Park Hospital, UK, Dr Naeem Mughal said the neuro disability was the fastest growing problem in the world but in Pakistan a large number of people were not aware of it.

“Effects of the neuro disability can be reduced by behavioral management, treatment and most importantly understanding the problem of a patient,” he said.

He said in the West issue of neuro disability was taken very seriously that was why special public awareness programmes were held regularly.

“In Pakistan, people will get awareness with the passage of time. The purpose of I my participating in the conference was to guide the medical students on neuro problems,” he said.

“People suffering from neuro disorders face difficulty in shifting from one activity to another. Sometimes they get upset with changes in their routine life and over react. People especially family members should know how to deal with that kind of a situation,” he said.

Doctors should guide the family members in this regard, he said and added every patient had different behavior so the relatives should know in what kind of environment the patient feels comfortable,” he said.

Secretary Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Hanif Khalid stressed the need of giving awareness to the people about neuro disorders.

“Autism is a serious neuro disability due to which children become a huge problem for their parents. On the other hand majority of parents and teachers don’t have awareness so they start abusing a child which damages his personality,” he said.

He said an autism centre had been set up in the capital which was providing the facilities to the patients.

Mohammad Ali, a medical student, while talking to Dawn said he had learnt that every neuro disorder patient should not be sent to the psychiatric hospital.

“Family members can play better role in providing an environment to a patient to live a normal life. They just need to know how to deal with himer. On the other hand doctors should also know that the medicine is not the treatment of every problem. It is more important to talk to the patient and know about his problem,” he said.

“Problems of people suffering from neuro disability can be resolved by knowing the art of dealing with the patient,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2015

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