A book on culture and mental health of Pakistan was launched by Hamdard University Hospital and Merck Marker on Monday, April 26, at a local hotel.
The book entitled 'Culture and Mental Health' has been written by Dr Amin A Gadit and Professor Val Reed.
Hamesh St Clair Daniel, British Deputy High Commissioner, was the chief guest on the occasion.
Speakers included Professor Majid A Memon, a surgeon, J Koening, Managing Director, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Brigadier Khalid Hasan Mehmood, Vice-Principal Sir Syed Girls Medical College Dr Ayesha Qureshi, Psychiatrists at Liaquat National Hospital Dr Aziz Khan Professor Dr Syed Aley Hasan Zaidi, Dean and Principal Hamdard College of Medicine Dentistry, and Justice Ghous Mohammed.
Professor Majid appreciated the efforts of the authors and said that writing a book was itself a very hard work and when written on a topic so sophisticated it is 100 times more difficult.
He said that the topic is so pertinent and important that it needs to be highlighted.
Because of three factors, that is low literacy rate, poverty and non-availability of qualified doctors, people depend upon spiritual 'healers' and priests to help them out of their mental problems.
"Therefore, our culture has taken this turn. If the literary rate is high the people will automatically go to the psychiatrists and solve their mental problems in a modern medical way."
The author, Dr Amin A Gadit, said that for over 140 million population of Pakistan there are only 225 to 230 psychiatrists. Others may have gone abroad or left their practice.
He said: "This book is a scientific document; a collection of scientific data and facts about our culture and mental health of the people. According to surveys Shamans and pirs are playing havoc with the people's lives and mental health."
Nowadays psychiatrists are not giving adequate time to the patients and therefore the patients of epilepsy and brain tumour visit various shines and pirs for treatment.
Now clinics are being conducted in different mosques of mental health where a doctor and a religious leader both together try to heal the person going through some mental problem.
The book is about collaboration happening in Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. It can now happen in Pakistan by working together.
The book contains references from Holy Quran and helps the reader in studying and understanding the topic easily.
J. Koening in his keynote address said that 15 million mild mental disorders patients are in Pakistan and they need adequate medical advice.
Dr Aziz said that general practitioners are at the grass-roots level and they can play a positive role. Different quarters claim that they had cure of every disease and rob people of their money and in the meantime the ailment become worse.
Hamish St. Clair Daniel was presented by the author with the book.
He said that mental health is a strong issue and it lives with the people everyday.
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