Health is non existent in this region for a common man, when we talk about South Asia, only affluent people can afford it in the private sector, as it has never been a priority of the ruling juntas. In the second of a 3 part series, Dr. Syed Ali Wasif speaks about the role of Pakistan Association for Mental Health.

As one of the fastest growing cities in the world Karachi has an estimated population of 12-14 Million peoples. It is believed that 1.2 million people in the city suffer from major psychiatric disorders and if those suffering from stress-related disorder are included, the figure rise to 3 million. The incidence of psychiatric morbidity and other stress disorder has increased tremendously in the recent past.

The Quantum of Psychiatric and Stress Related Disorders

• Every other house in Karachi has one or more persons taking tranquillizers
• Every fifth house has a psychosomatic/ psychiatric problem disturbing family members/ neighborhood or the society in general
• Every tenth house has a psychiatric patient needing medical attention (depression, psychosis, psychosomatic disorders, obsessions, mental retardation, and epilepsy or drug dependence).
• In Pakistan there are 1.5 crore people who are mentally disturbed.
• In Karachi there are 15 lakh people suffering from mental, emotional, intellectual and/ or social adjustment disorders. Amongst them, at least four lakh are those who need
• Psychiatric/Psychological attention. They are likely to become a permanent burden on society if not taken care of.

At this point one must look into the role of NGOs in the health sector, which is contributing a lot to the needy, deserving and deprived people rather filling a big vacuum which is created by the faulty approaches and policies of the government. In the field of psychiatry the role of “Pakistan Association for Mental Health” is remarkable, which is involved with the issue of mental health since more than 35 years in Karachi.

Pakistan Association for Mental Health
Pakistan Association for Mental Health was established in 1965 under the convenership of Dr. S. Haroon Ahmed. It was registered in 1970 under the voluntary Social Welfare Agencies Ordinance 1961. It is run by its Executive Committee and a team of dedicated mental health professionals.

PAMH is a non-profit, non-commercial organization for public service and for creating awareness about mental health, with a mission to: (1) Evolve a community-oriented (family involvement), cost effective (affordable) and culturally relevant (acceptable) program of treatment and aftercare of mentally ill patients and (2) develop local need-based programs in the field of behavioral sciences for: teaching, training, research and psycho-education.

The outpatient and community mental health services were started by PAMH at Institute of Behavioral Sciences in 1996. It was run by honorary psychiatrists and highly qualified paid professionals. It continued to grow and a large team of volunteers and professionals were on the verge of starting an ambitious teaching and training program leading to MD, M. Phil and PhD. The process of recognition was also completed and affiliation with Karachi University.

In December 2002, this program had to be suspended due to certain unavoidable circumstances. The entire team of IBS was then relocated in the city (90-A, Depot Lines) and the Free Mental Health Clinic (MIND) was started on 28th December 2002. The team consists of: (1) Prof. S. Haroon Ahmed MD, FRCPsych, DPM (2) Dr. Uzma Ambareen, MD, Diplomate American Board of psychiatry and neurology (3) Dr. S. Ali Wasif MBBS, MCPS (4) Dr. Mohammad Suleman, MBBS (5) Dr. Khawaja Khusro Tariq MD (6) Dr. Rubina Kidwai, PhD (7) Mrs. Getee Ara Naeem, Post-Magisterial Diploma in Clinical Psychology.
Visiting Psychiatrists: (1) Dr. Sirajuddin MCPS (2) Dr. Naim Siddiqui MBBS, MRCPsych.

The current activities of PAMH are its outpatient department/MIND Centre, help line of trained psychiatrists and Community Mental Health Workers who are available for help and information over the phone number +92212232423 from 3-4 p.m, six days a week and The Community Mental Health Program which is run with a concept of public service, providing basic mental health care at the doorstep of patients involving local resources and primary health providers in the community.

The Future Plans of PAMH are Home Based Treatment to harness the family bond and provide culturally relevant and affordable treatment and the Crisis Intervention & Observation Centre and a Sub-Acute Rehab Unit which are to be set up at a separate site as a hostel-like accommodation for mentally un-firm and old. All of this sounds a promising dream but can not be achieved without the participation of those people who can think differently and wants to contribute to the development of human dignity.

Dr Syed Ali Wasif lives in Karachi and works with children and on child abuse in Pakistan. He can be contacted at wasif_ali@hotmail.com

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