RTR3VN04 (1).jpg (Photo : Reuters)
Health officials are clamoring for better ways to deal with the issue of mounting mental health cases in China.
According to officials, a lack of medical infrastructure and inadequate number of doctors are posing problems to treatment, said a report by Xinhua News Agency.
In Beijing alone, 50,000 patients with severe psychiatric disorders were registered by the end of 2013, but there are currently only 5,915 specialists in city hospitals and 995 in community health centers, according to Beijing Commission of Health and Family Planning.
Furthermore, the number of patients is on the rise, but there are only 9,888 sickbeds intended for mental illness cases, commission official Guo Jiyong said.
The entire country now has more than 100 million citizens suffering from mental health problems, with 16 million dealing with especially troubling conditions, according to statistics from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Specialists in Beijing can be tasked to oversee up to 300 patients at a time in extreme situations, and this has been distressing to medical professionals, according to the Beijing commission.
Many of those mentally afflicted come from poor families, and the medical bills have proven to be too high for them to afford continuous treatment. Hence, many of these patients are forced to discontinue medical care.
On October 10, World Mental Health Day,experts called on the government and citizens alike to give attention to people battling with mental illness.
Xie Hui, director of the disease control department of the Beijing commission, asked the government to design a better system for mental illness treatment.
