ATH gets psychiatric diagnostic clinic

The inauguration coincides with World Mental Health Day

ABBOTTABAD: The psychiatry department at the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) has started its first-ever public sector diagnostic clinic to build a better society to recognise neurodevelopmental issues at early stages.

The centre was inaugurated by Ayub Medical Teaching Institution Dean Dr Umer Farooq along with Medical Director Dr Ahsan Aurangzeb and Hospital Director Dr Nadeem Akhtar on Friday. The day coincided with World Mental Health Day.

Psychiatry Department Head Dr Aftab Alam Khan said that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by marked deficits in social Communication (failure to initiate or respond to social interactions), deficits in nonverbal communication (e.g Poor Eye Contact), deficits in speech, developing relationships along with restrictive or repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities.

Clinical Psychologist Maimoona Rashid, Aisha Saleem and Speech Therapist Zubia Mushtaq will run this resource centre under the supervision of Dr Aftab.

Speech Therapist Dr Zobia Mustaq said that it requires a minimum of three to four sessions to carry out a complete an Autism assessment, ADHD and Intellectual ability can be assessed in the initial session of informal assessment with two or three formal assessment sessions depending upon the condition of the client.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2019.