LARKANA, March 2: Heads of psychiatry departments of measure universities and hospitals of Sindh have recommended making the subject of psychiatry part of syllabus for undergraduate level of medical studies and called for launching a drive to create awareness among people about mental diseases.

They said at a press conference prior to symposium on “Mental Health” organised by the Department of Psychiatry of Chandka Medical College on Saturday that the old fashioned method for treating the illness was compounding problems instead of solving them. Media could play a vital role in eliminating misconceptions about mental diseases, they said.They said there was a direct link between mental health and economic health. Recent studies conducted by the World Bank revealed that mental diseases constituted 12.5 per cent of the entire Global Burden of Diseases (GBD), they observed.

The percentage kept on rising as the mental diseases had mounted to top five of the top 10 diseases, they said and called for making efforts for bringing in qualitative changes in life.

They stressed that the subject of health should be made the sole responsibility of the state, they said.

They said that the ‘depression’ that stood on number four would become number two in year 2020, as 20 per cent cases examined in routine in the country’s hospitals related to depression and the number continued to rise.

They said that at present five per cent of the population faced depression, one per cent people were braving psychosis, one per cent patients were suffering from epilepsy while one per cent children were mentally retarded.

They supported the idea of preferring scientific approach over old traditions and customs to treat psychological disorders and stressed that a mass awareness campaign was the need of the hour.

The village population, trapped in poverty, unemployment and illiteracy, were using unscientific methods for dealing with mental diseases, they said, calling for producing more psychiatrists to address the situation.

Prof Musrat Hussain, head of the Department of Psychiatry of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Dr Raza Rehman of National Institute of Child Healthcare, Dr Abdul Ghani, head of the Department of Psychiatry of Dow University of Medical Sciences, Dr Badar Junejo, head of the Department of Psychiatry, Chandka Medical College Hospital, Dr Hafeez of Ghulam Mohammed Mahar Medical College and Dr Zulfikar Rahojo of Psychiatry Department of CMCH were among the speakers.