Forensic mental health training on the cards

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Monday reviewed the steps taken to launch forensic mental health training courses and establish separate rehabilitation facilities for women addicts.

The Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) executive director and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) officers gave a briefing to the minister during a meeting of the Punjab Mental Health Authority.

Dr Yasmin Rashid noted that the PIMH was providing treatment facilities to 1,200 admitted and 800 to 1,000 OPD patients daily. She said mental patients required more attention than others and the doctors and nurses would be trained as per modern requirements to ensure their better treatment. The institute of is also providing free medicines and clean food to the patients.

Curriculum will be developed for training doctors in the institute, while steps are also being taken for introducing the discipline of forensic mental health. A committee has been formed to prepare the curriculum for training healthcare workers.

It was decided that proposed amendments to the Punjab Mental Health Act would be presented in the next provincial cabinet meeting.

The participants were informed that the PIMH had been made paperless by the PITB.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2023.