Mental Health

IT is a shocking piece of revelation that 25 per cent of the people in Nepal suffer from mental diseases. In a country where a lot of people are not reached even by any primary health care service, the mental health care service is generally non-existent. What it means in terms of the loss of quality of life is obvious. Potential contributors to enrich the life of a community and nation languish for want of mental health care. Very little has been achieved over the decades in establishing an accessible and affordable mental health care service in the country. Though treatment of mental patients started in the country with the establishment of the psychiatric ward at Bir hospital almost forty years ago, mental health care service is yet to grow to a level where patients can access it without much efforts. The only Mental Hospital in the country has only 50 beds. The 15,000 patients who visit the hospital annually and the 550 who receive hospital care there represent a small number of beneficiaries when compared with the need for mental health care in the country. Most of Nepal’s government health care providing agencies do not have psychiatrists. The scarcity in manpower can be gauged by the fact that in total there are only 21 psychiatrists in the country with only half of them in government service. Unlike the general perception that mental patients are not easy to be treated, it is a proven fact that with little intervention they can regain their mental health. Mental diseases can be cured with timely identification, family care, social support and regular and human treatment. But clearly there is a lot to be done in these respects.

Minister for Health Ram Krishna Tamrakar, in his message on the World Health Day observed Sunday with a focus on mental health care, said the government has worked to integrate mental health care with primary health care services and making it more effective. A mental health plan, that is based on the policy that mental patients should not be segregated during treatment from people suffering from other general diseases, is already in its third year of implementation. Indeed, integrated treatment facilities at all levels of the national health care system must be developed. The sheer number of people in Nepal suffering from one or the other kind of mental ailments demands that a top priority is attached to build up such integrated treatment system.

Promoting Languages

MINISTER for Education and Sports Amod Prasad Upadhyaya said that His Majesty’s Government would soon prepare textbooks in different national languages and incorporate them in primary schools. Inaugurating the national general conference of Tajpuria Society Welfare Council in Biratnagar the other day, Minister Upadhyaya said that this move was to make primary education more effective and transparent. What Minister Upadhyaya said was the part of the overall programme and commitment of His Majesty’s Government to promote and develop all national languages and cultures of the country in an equal footing. Nepal is a country of lingual and cultural mosaic. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal has clearly described Nepal as the multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic country. Different ethnic communities have their own mother tongue. It is, thus, very important to promote and develop all languages and cultures equally. Moreover, the government has taken the policy of providing educational opportunities to all and eradicating illiteracy within a few years. It is said that a child learns to read and write quickly and more effectively in his/her mother tongue rather than in the second language. The remarks of Minister Upadhayaya to teach children in their own mother tongue at primary level have twin objectives. One is to make learning process more effective and easier and the other to promote all ethnic language existing in the country. Diverse ethnic, lingual and cultural composition makes a rich national culture and identity. In view of this, Nepal is rich in ethnic, cultural and lingual diversity. Unity in diversity is the major characteristic and identity of Nepal. Nationalism becomes strong only when all ethnic, lingual and cultural communities were promoted and developed equally. Unless all ethnic and lingual communities are brought into national mainstream, sustainable development of the country is not possible. It is thus important to provide equal opportunity of development to all ethnic languages and cultures. Although the government has adopted the policy of providing education to primary school children in their own mother tongue, it has not yet been implemented. Once it is implemented, it would make significant contribution to make teaching and learning process easier in the primary level as well as develop national languages. Thus, what Minister Upadhayaya spoke is right and timely which needs to be put into practice as early as possible.