11 cases of mental illness confirmed

KARACHI - The City Institute of Image Management (CIIM), has established a Psychological Rehabilitation Centre(PSY) at the flood relief camps in City, The Nation learnt on Tuesday. This initiative has been taken on the directives of City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Administrator Fazalur Rehman. The facility aims at providing psychological treatment to traumatised displaced people who fled to escape destruction caused by massive floods. The Nation has also learned that so far as many as 11 IDPs have been diagnosed with psychological disorders. The CIIM Director Muhammad Shahid told The Nation on Tuesday that the Psychological Rehabilitation Centre had been operational for past few days and that they were working in those sectors where other government institutions and NGOs have 'failed to reach out to. The CIIM is the department which runs under City government and performs various tasks for betterment of the society and tries to resolve various issues having implications of social, cultural and religious nature. It also works to eliminate poverty and illiteracy from the society, he further said. He said the CIIM would take care of those displaced people who are struggling to cope with stress and traumas caused by floods that washed away their properties, crops and in some cases their near and dear ones. The director said the Institution is operational at two relief camps, one at Razzaqabad and another in Gulshan-e-Mamar area and both the facilities are open 24 hours a day. He said that the CIIM trainers, officers and doctors of CDGK hospitals are working together to providing treatment to affected people. He said that the CIIM trainer Ms Tanveer Ishrat and the trainers of the Institute of Clinical Psychology, University of Karachi are works together at the camps. He added that so far they have detected 11 cases of psychological disorders. Under the Centres supervision the eye scanning tests of more than 700 children would also be conducted today. Eye surgeon Dr Mashood-uz-Zafar would supervise the tests. CIIM sources said that free eye glasses would be provided to children with bad eyesight. Muhammad Shahid further elaborated that during the Eid days, CIIM organised entertainment events for the children who had lost their smiles due to the devastation of floods.