After all its efforts to deploy psychiatrists at the grassroots failed, the Ministry of Health and Population has started providing mental health training to health workers.

According to the Non-communicable Disease and Mental Health Section at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, medical doctors, health assistants, paramedics and staff nurses of 21 districts will get mental health training in the ongoing fiscal year.

“We have also planned to train female community health volunteers serving at the local level in mental health,” Dr Phanindra Prasad Baral, chief of the section, told the Post. “We hope that the training provided to the female community health volunteers will help find and treat people suffering from mental health problems.”

Nepal does not have enough experts to treat and cure mental health problems. There are only around 130 psychiatrists in the country, most of whom are based in the Kathmandu Valley and other urban areas. The Health Ministry said that less than 30 psychiatric doctors serve in state-run hospitals.

“It may take years to deploy psychiatrist doctors at the grassroots, so we decided to train medical officers, paramedic and staff nurses,” added Baral.

The Ministry of Health and Population has already trained around 1,000 paramedics and staff nurses of 20 districts to address mental health problems.

“A lot of mental health patients, who are deprived of treatment, will get treatment at their nearest health facilities, if we could train local health workers,” Dr Basudev Karki, a consultant psychiatrist at Nepal Mental Hospital, told the Post. “Female community health volunteers, who work at the grassroots will recommend people for treatment, if they are provided with mental health training.”

According to Karki, a study carried out in the past showed that of the 100 people recommended by trained female community health volunteers, 64 were found suffering from some form of mental health problems.

Mental health is one of the major public health issues in Nepal. The National Mental Health Survey-2020 showed that 10 percent of the adult population suffers from mental health problems in their lifetime and 4.3 percent currently have mental disorders.

The study was carried out on 15,088 people from across the country from January 2019 to January 2020.

Doctors say mental health problems have increased several folds due to the effect of ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A lot of people have been compelled to remain in isolation, have lost their jobs and family members and incurred losses due to the pandemic.

The Health Ministry provides 11 different types of psychotropic medicines from state- run health facilities throughout the country.