The Children of Adam, a non-profit organisation located in the United Kingdom, has begun building on a Rs4 billion state-of-the-art neuropsychiatric treatment centre on Karachi’s outskirts.
Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister of Sindh, laid the groundwork for the hospital, which will provide both inpatient and outpatient therapy services.
Autism spectrum illness, bipolar disorder, developmental impairments, Schizophrenic disorders, anxiety, depression, and a variety of other mental health conditions will be treated at the new institution. The facility will be able to admit up to 150 patients at once.
A completely computerised system will be employed for patient registration and tracking to assure their comprehensive care even after they leave the hospital. It will also provide the opportunity for mental health professionals including psychiatrists and para-medical staff to enhance their qualifications by earning internationally recognised diplomas in the discipline of psychiatric care.
The facility will also act as a detoxification centre for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts.
Another special focus of the facility will be the treatment and rehabilitation of children suffering from developmental disabilities.
While speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Syed Murad Ali Shah appreciated that a foreign non-profit had come to Pakistan to establish a hospital for treating mental illnesses as the country with a population of 232 million had over 15 million suffering from various psychiatric problems.
He said the new facility would go a long way in ensuring the upkeep of the mental health of the people of Sindh.
Shah conceded that the densely populated city of Karachi, where a large number of people from other towns regularly come for getting treatment services, didn’t have proper facilities for treating mental health issues.
He told the audience that Sindh Mental Health Act had been passed in 2013 and later on a provincial Mental Health Authority had been established in 2017 to regulate psychiatric treatment services in the province.
He said the Sindh government had initiated the project of telehealth services for providing free counselling related to mental health. He informed the audience that 150 years-old Cowasjee Jehangir Institute of Psychiatry in Hyderabad would be upgraded by his government as a university.
