KARACHI:The Sindh government had notified Sindh Mental Health Authority (SMHA) in October 2017 to make a policy for welfare of people suffering from mental disorders, but the authority is still without Rs25 million fund promised in seed money and has no office space where its members could meet and work. No regulations and structure of the authority has been designed yet despite the lapse of one and half year.
Despite passage of the Sindh Mental Health Bill by the Sindh Assembly five years back in September 2013, the fate of the authority is hanging in balance.
Experts have expressed disappointment at the lackluster attitude adopted by the Sindh Health Department towards SMHA. Currently, major divisional, districts and taluka hospitals are operating without qualified psychiatrists across the Sindh province.
There is only one hospital for people with mental disorders in Sindh province known as Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Institute of Psychiatry situated in Hyderabad. However, departments of psychiatry are established at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi and Sindh Government Hospital Lyari while no such facility is available in Nawabshah, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas divisions.
In Pakistan, around 400 qualified psychiatrists are available out of them, 140 are practicing in Sindh province. Around 80 psychiatrists are working in Karachi, Hyderabad and other cities of Sindh province. The mental disorder is considered as the second largest prevalence in the society after cardiovascular diseases.