The pharmaceutical sector of Pakistan is regarded as a key authority to combat the prevailing
surge in mental health issues, which have caused havoc to the human lives mostly during the
period of coronavirus pandemic.
It is primarily significant to note that if the existing issues pertaining to the mental disorders are
kept neglected and not controlled timely, then society will have to face the dire consequences.
The mental health syndromes occupy the center of the attention in today’s era, not one, but
countless reasons, have given birth to the rising spate of mental incongruities among a common
man in recent times.
Some of the topmost causes behind this agony includes, increasing unemployment amidst
mounting inflation, abrupt downsizing, and cutoff in salaries, self-isolation and a prolonged
imposition of lockdown across the country due to outbreak which has increased the level of
boredom and frustration among the masses.
The mental health syndromes occupy the center of the attention in today’s era, some
significant causes which gave birth to the escalating mental disorders and challenges in last 2
years needs to be put in limelight.
It cannot be denied at any point of time that mental peace is interrelated to individual’s
financial condition. A common man actually not desires to get millions but of course he or she
definitely opts for a better living by availing the basic amenities in life which are mandatory for
survival.
Contrary to this, when the overall situation turns around to be sluggish and vain, under such
circumstances, where a lay man is not even in such a position to earn a routine bread and
butter for his family, then certainly the level of frustration, depression and anxieties
exaggerates and ultimately it affects mental health and human behavior to a higher extent
which tends to put human life at imminent danger.
At such a critical time, when society is moving ahead towards complete dejection, Pakistan’s
leading pharmaceutical company Martin Dow kicked off a new initiative of introducing ‘Mental
health Library’ in an effort to eliminate and combat this unending wave of rising mental
disorders.
Martin Dow’s Mental Health Library targets at providing a platform to the students and
graduated mental health care providers with latest online resource in the form of journal
subscriptions. This would largely increase the knowledge and expertise of the doctors mainly
affiliated with the segment of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Mental Health Library will allow doctors to gain current and extensive understanding of the
mental ailments, its causes and remedial measures through introspective research that will
prove to be fruitful during the course of consultation with the patients and the general public.
The information and the statistics compiled in Martin Dow’s mental health library are the
amalgamation of three prominent medical journals including American Journal of Psychiatry,
Jama Neurology and Lancet Psychiatry.
Moreover, in the coming years, Martin Dow is planning to add one more key medical journal in
its Mental Health Library which is British Journal of Psychiatry while a likely collaboration with
Pakistan Psychiatric Society for implementing online courses to assist the General Physicians
under the guidance of psychiatric panel experts is also looming.
This all-encompassing decision of Martin Dow will help in rightly coming across by all the grave
apprehensions of the multitudes related to mental syndromes by accurately identifying all the
key reasons behind such disorders and resolving them through a decisive plan of action.
It is primarily essential that for reducing the rate of rising mental health syndromes and for
creating maximum awareness among the multitudes, country’s entire pharmaceutical sector
should move ahead in taking similar initiatives which Martin Dow has focused on, inevitably.
I hereby opine that proactive measures will aid a lot in fighting the rising mental health
problems across Pakistan, which are deemed to be serious in nature and perilous to human life.
The challenges of mental disorders could be tackled by means of developing independent
learning and education centers that mainly runs under the patronage and supervision of
eminent psychologists, neurologists, qualified and trained staff of cognitive behavior discipline
and for sure with the unwavering support of the government.
I reiterate my stance that with an intent to improve mental health conditions, communities
should take a step forward by seriously dealing out with the adverse effects of the coronavirus.
Both government and the organizations must ensure a collaborative working environment by
cultivating positivity and building resilience.
By : Aneel Usmani
