'Violence against mental health patients should be prevented'

Nadira Gunatilleke

The Mental Health Practice and Research Training Course and a series of workshops was inaugurated yesterday at the Institute of Psychiatry, Angoda Teaching Hospital. The training course and the workshops will end on January 26. Deputy Director General, Health Services, Dr. Dula de Silva was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony Duncan Pedersen, MD, MPH, said this programme is aimed at reducing the burden and preventing extreme violence experienced by mental health patients.

A fund titled Global Health Research Initiative has been established in Canada by a few Canadian institutions to assist needy countries. Through this fund, training, capacity building and sharing of experiences will be offered for the required countries, he said.

Sri Lanka's WHO Representative, Agostino Bora said that in Sri Lanka 90 per cent of the mental patients receive treatment for their illnesses and they suffer from minor and serious mental sicknesses.

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry and the WHO now focused on improving certain important areas of the mental health sector in Sri Lanka. He admired the leadership provided by Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva and Ministry Secretary Dr.Athula Kahandaliyanage to develop the health sector.

The training sessions, which will involve local participants, will be conducted by several resource persons from Canada in association with psychiatric staff at the Angoda Teaching Hospital. There will be 60 to 70 participants on each of the six days.

The two-day course on Transcultural and Social Psychiatry is being conducted today. A one day workshop on Trauma and Mental Health will be held on January 23 and the three-day workshop on Research Methods in Mental Health will be held from January 24 to 26.

The Canadian resource persons are Laurence J. Kirmaver, MD, FRCP, McGill University, Duncan Pedersen, MD, MPH, McGill University, Danielle Groleau, PhD, Jewish General Hospital, Jaswant Guzder, MD, FRCP, Jewish General Hospital and Consuelo Errazuriz, M.A., Douglas Mental Health University, Institute.

Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry Secretary Dr.Athula Kahandaliyanage will be present at the closing ceremony of the course and workshop to be held on January 26.

Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr.Suman Fernando, Director, Institute of Psychiatry, Dr.Jayan Mendis and Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr.Haruschandra Gambheera also spoke. Advisor to the President Sunimal Fernando was present.