Collective efforts needed to ensure mental health

732

RAJSHAHI, Oct 10, 2020 (BSS) – Highlighting the importance of mental health academics and researchers stressed the need for ensuring mental health to all for their betterment.

They mentioned that optimum treatment and necessary healthcare facilities towards the mentally sick people is very vital to facilitate them to get back their normal life.

They came up with the observation while addressing a street-corner meeting at Shaheb Bazar Zero Point today. The Department of Clinical Psychology in Rajshahi University organized the projection meeting to mark the World Mental Health Day-2020.

The main theme of the day is ‘Mental Health for All: Greater Investment-Greater Access’.

Associate Professor of the department Dr Nure Alam Siddique addressed the meeting as focal person. Assistant Profs Dr Shariful Islam, Tarun Hassan and Tapan Kumar Barman also spoke.

Dr Nure Alam said mental illnesses are an under-recognised public health problem in Bangladesh. “Awareness about mental illness and acceptance of treatment are very low due to social stigma and superstition”, he added.

Psychosocial care of mentally sick and disaster affected people constitute a major challenge for the health and the social welfare systems of the country.

Taking advantage of the situation, he said, some quacks and opportunist groups have been working as money- makers through exploiting the patients.

Dr Alam Siddique added that the mal-practitioners are pushing the patients into endangered conditions. Mental health needs to be brought under the surveillance system incorporating other non-communicable diseases.

The state level treatment facilities for the mentally disorder patients are very limited, he said and underscored the need for uplifting the scopes to cope with the situation.

Integration of mental health services with primary health care has become the most viable way of narrowing the treatment gap and ensuring that common people benefit from mental health promotion.

Dr Shariful Islam said all the drug addicts especially the intravenous drug users always suffer from mental sickness as the drugs damage their body strengths and the central nervous system.

He said the mental patients are the most vulnerable sections of the society. They are subjected to repression and oppression frequently and stressed the need for bringing them under proper treatment.