HYDERABAD, Aug 11: Pakistan has only 500 qualified psychiatrists to attend to a multitude of the mentally-ill people and the country badly needs to put in place adequate infrastructure for psychiatric treatment and launch awareness campaigns to overcome psychological and sociological causes behind mental diseases, experts and intellectuals say.

Speaking at a sports-cum-musical evening titled “Ek Sham Hum Subke Naam” organised by the management of Sir C.J. Institute of Psychiatry, the only government-run institute for the mentally-ill in interior of Sindh on Sunday night, the experts said that mental health was one of the five major diseases the world was fighting against.

But unfortunately neither the government nor public was paying any attention to the patients. Besides, majority of relatives would rather disown them after getting them admitted to the institute, they said.

Renowned scholar and intellectual Ibrahim Joyo said that to serve the ailing and suffering humanity was the greatest of worships according to Islamic teachings, also expounded by Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (RA) in his poetry.Mr Joyo said that almost all the health institutions, including this institute were under-funded. The network of mental health facilities should be expanded as Sir C.J. Institute alone could not shoulder the increasing burden.

He regretted the fact that many parents had disowned their children after getting them admitted to the institute and did not even accept them after they got medically fit. The government should appoint professional sociologist consultants to persuade the parents to accept their relatives, he advised.

Prof Qavi Ahmed, eminent scholar and intellectual, said that understanding the importance of human being was the point from where the process of solving problems should start. Human beings from each segment of society or group were important and any service for human beings was tantamount to service of the nation and the country, he said.

Dr Sajan Memon, former director general of health, said that in addition to medical treatment, vocational institutes should be established in the institute to rehabilitate patients. If the recovered patients had some skills to earn livelihood their parents would not ignore or disown them, he suggested.

Director General of Health Services Dr Ghulam Nabi Memon agreed to Dr Sajan’s suggestion and asked the institute’s management to prepare a PC-I for the establishment of a vocational centre in the institute and assured that he would get it approved. The institute’s staff would be provided latest training, he said.

The medical superintendent of Sir C.J. Psychiatry Institute Dr Akbar Ali Memon said that to serve in this institute was a challenge, which he accepted in the interest of the deprived patients.

He said that the institute, which had a capacity for 300 patients, discharged 50 patients each month on completion of their treatment. The management was experiencing difficulties keeping 100 recovered patients in the hospital, who had been disowned by their parents, he said.

Earlier, an eight-over cricket match was played between Nusrat Eleven and Birjees Eleven. The teams were made up of the mentally ill patients and the staff members. Nusrat Eleven won the match and a recovered patient, Zahid, was declared man-of-the-match.

Dr. Akbar Ali gave away prizes among the winners and runners-up. The mentally ill patients and their children also presented a tableau and national songs during the programme.