PESHAWAR, April 6: District Nazim Mohammad Azam Khan Afridi has said that there is a dire need of educating people regarding the human psychology in order to make them useful citizens of the society.

Addressing a one-day workshop entitled “International Mental Health Training”, organized by World Psychiatric Association for primary health physicians here Sunday, he said that most of the people suffered from the post traumatic disorder, because of the uncertain situation in the region and asked the doctors to understand the problems of such patients and help them in their rehabilitation.

He said that the government had allocated Rs18.60 million for the construction of a women and children hospital and work on it began last week. Special wards, he said would be built for the Afghan women and children, in order to facilitate the large number of refugees dwelling in the province.

In the wake of lack of education on the part of the people, mentally retarded patients were not brought to hospitals at the right time, which further deteriorated their condition.

He urged the people to realize the importance of mental health and do not consider mental illness a stigma.

Director General of the Health Services Habibur Rehman said that miseries of the mentally retarded patients were more alarming and complicated than those suffering from other minor health problems. Being a psychiatrist, he came across a number of mentally sick patients and observed that they were more uncomfortable and disturbed.

He also blamed the psychiatrists for not paying proper attention to their patients and often passed non-professional remarks about them. Some of the doctors, he said did not consider the role of social workers in the treatment and rehabilitation of the mentally retarded people, which he said was against the medical ethics.

He hoped that the doctors would apply in the treatment of their patients whatever they were thought at the workshop, which he said would benefit the patients in return.

President of the Mental Health Resource Centre Dr Khalid A. Mufti deplored the prevalent situation in the region, saying that mental health was directly related to peace and tranquillity. Till the return of peace, people would continue to suffer from mental ailments.

He was of the view that, religious scholars, could play very positive role by educating the people about the role of peace and tranquillity in any society and assisting the patients.

Dr Haroon Rashid Chaudhry was of the opinion that all the psychiatrists who attended the workshop could become useful servants to the society, provided they honestly practised what they had learnt. By treating the mentally sick people, the society at large could be put on the path of development and progress.

He urged the doctors to adopt good medical practices and treat the patients with utmost zeal and honesty to resolve socio- economic complexities of the society.

He urged the doctors to help the patients by prescribing quality medicines, but said that they should also consider the economic positions of the patients while making prescriptions.

He asked the government to ban the over-the-counter sale of drugs in order to discourage self-medication, which he said was extremely harmful.