More than 12 million Vietnamese people currently are in need of mental health care for 10 kinds of popular mental disorders like anxiety and depression, an official of the Ministry of Health was cited by the Nong Thon Ngay Nay newspaper as saying Mar 22. Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien released the information at a seminar in the central city of Danang to review a project on protecting community mental health in the 2006-2010 period. All provinces and cities, including 70% of communes and wards, had combined mental health care with healthcare services in clinics while 49% of mental patients were found during the period, he added. Tien highlighted the necessity to prevent and detect the disease early as well as rehabilitate the patients in the community apart from hospitalization for treatment. In fact, Vietnam is now facing a severe lack of psychiatrists and medical services to take care mental disorder patients, Head of the National Institute of Mental Health Tran Huu Binh said, blaming the shortage to social prejudices, low salary payment and poor medical facilities. Currently, Vietnam now has only one psychiatrist for every 100,000 mental illness patients. The country is estimated to need nearly 900 psychiatrists to serve mental disorder patients effectively. (danviet.vn Mar 22, Nguoi Lao Dong – Laborer Mar 22 p2)
