More than six million Nepalis – 20 percent of the population – had symptoms of mental health disease in 2010, according to the government, but the issue remains neglected and underfunded, according to experts.
– This is a major public health concern and we still do not have a proper mental health care system in place, said Ram Lal Shrestha, director of local NGO Centre for Mental Health and Counselling-Nepal (CMC), which provides community mental health (MH) services to IRIN.
– MH issues have to be addressed urgently or a lot of lives will be at stake,” he added.
HAR POLITIK, MEN BRUGER DEN IKKE
More than 15 years have passed since the government formulated its first MH policy in 1996, but little of the policy has been implemented, said NGOs.
The key components of the policy included ensuring access to all minimum MH services, training MH human resources, protecting human rights of the mentally ill, and improving awareness about this public health issue.
– There is absolutely no mechanism [of policy enforcement] in place at the community level in the districts. Even the health professionals, like government medical officers, remain unaware due to lack of training on MH, said Jamuna Poudel, programme director of the Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT), a national NGO specializing in psycho-social treatment.
STORT SET INGEN PSYKIATRISKE AFDELINGER
There are more than 4,000 health posts and 75 district hospitals run by the government nationwide, but none have a dedicated MH unit, according to CVICT, which has been lobbying the government to start implementing the 1996 MH policy.
Only one government run health centre, Patan Hospital in Kathmandu, offers outpatient MH care. There are no inpatient or outpatient MH services in any other government-run health facilities in the country.
