Amin A Muhammad Gadit.
Is there a visible mental health policy in Pakistan?.
J Pak Med Assoc Jan ;57(4):212-3.

Mental health policy is an essential and powerful tool for the promotion of mental health in any given population. Despite wide recognition of the importance of mental health policies, data collected by W.H.O. reveal that 40.5% of the countries have no mental health policy. Does Pakistan have a clear mental health policy? Local literature search gives very little information about the policy. The national health policy of Pakistan concentrates on poverty alleviation, priority attention to primary and secondary sectors of health to replace the earlier concentration on tertiary care and seeing good governance as the basis of health sector reform to achieve quality care. The mental health policy was first formulated in 1997 which addressed issues of advocacy, promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and intersectoral collaboration. It envisaged to train primary care providers, to establish resource centers at teaching psychiatric hospitals and detoxification centers. There was provision for crisis intervention and counseling services, special facilities for mentally handicapped and up gradation of large mental hospitals. The allocated mental health budget is 0.4% of total health care expenditures. As such the policy for mental health is not comprehensive and has multiple lacunae. This is a review article.

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