National emergency response to Pakistan’s mental health crisis urged
PMA demands policy shift, disaster-linked funding, and expanded training to address untreated psychological trauma, as SMHA reiterates commitment to strengthen mental healthcare in Sindh IV Report KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has sounded the alarm over what it describes as an “abysmal” overall state of mental healthcare in the country, urging the government to prioritise access to psychological and psychiatric services as a national emergency. Marking World Mental Health Day (WMHD) , the PMA warned that the growing burden of mental distress continues to go largely untreated, undermining the nation’s overall resilience and recovery. In a statement issued on October 10, PMA Secretary General Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro said that Pakistan’s mental health system remains grossly unprepared to meet the needs of its increasingly traumatised population. “There is no health without mental health,” the association stressed, calling for urgent and sustained measures to integr...