An alarming 16.1 percent of Bangladeshis over the age of eighteen are suffering from mental disorders, but the country does not have adequate treatment facilities. There is roughly only one psychiatrist for every 800,000 people. The total number of psychiatric specialists is 190 and most of them offer their services in the urban areas. Specialists say, one person in every 100 people is afflicted by comples mental disease and 10 are by other nental diseases. Of them, 16.5 percent have no idea about treatment facility.
Dr. Janu Shamsunnahar of Psychology department in BSMMU said that people are not often aware that they could be suffering from mental diseases. In many cases, the patients turn to village fakirs, Ayurvedic practitioners or pirs instead of going to doctors, she added.
Director of National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Golam Rabbani, explained that superstition, erroneous beliefs and negative attitudes are the main impediments to successful treatment of mental patients in the country. Often people try to avoid admitting that their family member suffers from mental disease due to social stigma attached to it.
NIMH, BSMMU, Dhaka Medical College hospital, Pabna Mental Hospital and other government hospital and clinics also offer treatment facilities for mental patients.
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