With the theme of "Recent Advances in Rehabilitation, Biological and Social Psychiatry," a four-day 3rd Asia Pacific Conference on Psychosocial Rehabilitation is being held in Lahore from Friday (today).
Leading psychiatrists from 18 countries of the world including, the US, UK, Australia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE etc are attending the moot during which they would share their experiences in rehabilitation of psychiatric patients, Professor Dr Afzal Javed, one of the organisers of the moot said.
Professor Afzal Javed, who is President of the World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation said that apart from scientific sessions, there will be three special sessions on terrorism and political violence, human rights and mental health. He said there will be five workshops on child and adolescent psychiatry, rehabilitation outcomes, setting up rehabilitation services in low income countries, personal recovery in psychiatric illness and forensic psychiatry in different hospitals during this moot.
He said the Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar will inaugurate the conference at a local hotel while federal and provincial ministers will also attend different events of the moot.
Professor Afzal said mental health should be included in the government's agenda and funds should be allocated for issues related to mental health.
He said mentally sick people were subjected to serious human rights abuses in most countries. He said that according to the World Health Organisation report, one in every five people in the world suffered from a mental disease, which required mental healthcare.
He further said mental health disorders ranked among the top 10 illnesses in the world. He said more than 37 percent people world-wide suffered from depression and only one psychiatrist available for every 10,000 people in Pakistan. He said there were only four major mental hospitals in the country, while another 20 units were attached to government medical colleges.