The National Committee for the Promotion of Mental Health plans to conduct a six-year study to determine the number of psychiatric patients abandoned by their families and living on the streets in the Kingdom.
Saad Salem Al-Asmari, the executive director of the committee, said: “The main objective is to find out how many psychiatric patients are wandering around in public places, determine their condition and find their parents,” he said.
He said the Kingdom has benefited from the experiences of other developed countries in handling people suffering from mental health problems, including ways to treat them.
“Many parents neglect their children who have psychiatric problems. They forget about them until there is an accident or a crime occurs,” he said.
Al-Asmari criticized the community for ignoring the plight of these people. He said members of the public do not even try to determine what caused the condition of these mentally ill persons.
He said the national committee, since its establishment three years ago, had held seven workshops on how to treat psychiatric patients and those people displaying socially undesirable behavior.
He said the committee would work with other agencies across the country to find and treat such people.
Govt to study condition of psychiatric patients
