SOUTH ASIAN FORUM ON MENTAL HEALTH & PSYCHIATRY

Dear friends,

You will be pleased to know that 2005 was a big success for SAF activities. We were able to launch new chapters, strengthen the existing chapters and forward the message of collaboration and friendship to a number of new friends. This letter gives some activities we undertook in 2005 and also gives an idea about our 2006 plans.

Afzal Javed

Activities in 2005

The Tsunami left a big challenge for every one in the region with a very important task. This tragedy did attract attention of many international groups to the effected area and SAF also came forward for help to the local professionals.

SAF was very active in helping Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka and UK chapter along with active collaboration from Australian and Canadian chapters undertook a number of initiatives. These projects included training and teaching for local mental health professionals and service provision projects in Sri Lanka. Some of the projects were as following.

A team from South Asian Forum UK chapter comprising of Prof. Mohan, Dr. Afzal Javed, Dr. Somasunderam, Dr. Vidya Sagar and Dr. Arshad Mahmood had a very successful visit to Sri Lanka in March 2005. SAF UK chapter raised more than 50 thousand US Dollars for the relief work for Sri Lanka and decided to help the mental health professionals for establishing some of the following mental health projects in Sri Lanka.

• First Rehab centre in the Eastern Province at Batticaloa. South Asian forum has donated about $20000 US Dollars (£11000 UK  Pounds) for building the premises. South Asian forum is also arranging training of professionals in the field of rehabilitation and we are currently finalizing one month training programme for a mental health worker from Batticaloa to go to Fountain House Lahore, Pakistan for one month training in the field of rehabilitation.

• South Asian Forum has also made a donation of about one million Sri Lankan rupees (£5000 UK Pounds) to Sahania, a well established rehabilitation project at Colombo run by Prof. Mendis.
• We have also donated £1000 (one thousand Pounds) to a learning disability centre in Batticaloa.to Ozanam, a centre for children with learning disability in Batticaloa.
• A donation of £5000 has been given to Human Development Centre, Jaffana to buy plastic Tables and Chairs for 150 students attending O/L & A/L classes.
• Donation was given of a sum of £2000 for a project “Teaching primary health care workers in Trauma work in Vanni-northern, Sri Lanka”.
• In addition to these donations we made significant contribution (amounting to £20000 UK pounds to Mental Health Services in Jaffna of Northern Province, Bishop’s relief fund at Batticaloa, UK Trauma group working in Sri Lanka, Alzheimer’s Society Sri lank and few other missionary projects.

UK Chapter meeting in Colombo in July proved another milestone in the history of SAF. Like previous meetings, it was a big success and was attended by more than 400 delegates. The meeting provided an excellent opportunity for scientific discussions and explored a number of projects for future collaboration. Office bearers of UK chapter and in particular, Prof. Mohan and Dr. Somasunderam, need special mention for their great leadership. The meeting was attended mainly by the regional psychiatrists from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Bhutan, Malaysia, Brunei and Japan including a big number of South Asian Psychiatrists settled in UK, USA and Canada. One of the main features of this meeting was a record participation of about 100 mental health professionals including doctors, psychologists, social workers and allied professional from Sri Lanka.  The delegates of this meeting strongly felt that this activity did emerge as a milestone in the development of mental health awareness in South Asian region.

Like its previous meeting held in Colombo (2003) and Lahore (2004), this meeting also helped in establishing contacts among the professionals working in different countries of this region that would of course help in promoting a cause for better mental health services at all levels of medical and social care. This also met the objective of the Forum about strengthening the local mental health services in the region. The presence of Prime Minister and Health Minister of Sri Lankan Government made it possible for the organizers of this meeting to have a dialogue with the local Health Department about discussions of National Mental Health Programme.

Launch of Thailand chapter was another landmark in the history of SAF. We organized a special session at Thailand’s national conference and Prof. Pichet Udomratn and Dr. Wachira played a significant role in establishing this important chapter.

SAF Thailand chapter also helped in finalizing the National guidelines for disaster management. The Chapter was actively involved ion the deliberations of this national workshop and provided expertise in getting the guidelines approved.

SAF Australian chapter was the main organizer for WPA co sponsored IAPA conference in Sydney, Australia. The SAF sessions at this meeting specifically explored the collaboration for the Western Pacific Islands in developing manpower and service provisions and along with the WPA Section in Psychiatry in Developing Countries was in particular successful by reaching an agreement with the Government of Cooks Island for formulation a comprehensive plan of support and assistance to their government in different areas of mental health. The help from our Chapter members and the office bearers, Prof. Russell De’Souza & Prof. Bruce Singh, in particular, needs special mention in their efforts in this regard.

Our next meeting was in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 6-8^th December, where Bangladesh chapter was officially launched in a special session in the International meeting of Bangladesh Psychiatric association. This meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the future training facilities for Bangladeshi mental health professionals with an active financial support from South Asian Forum on mental Health. The enthusiasm and great hospitality of our Chapter members, under the guidance of Prof. Nazimuddowla Chowdhury, for this event will be remembered for ever.

Pakistan & Indian chapters held their first joint meeting in Dubai on 16-17^th December.

This great initiative was possible with leadership from Mohandas (India) and Khalid mufti ( Pakistan). This was again a well attended meeting and both the chapters have now decided to organize similar meeting again in 2006.

SAF Middle East chapter was opened at the joint meeting of SAF India & Pakistan. Dr. Padma Raju Varrey ( Middle East) konaseema@hotmail.com was nominated as the contact person.

Keeping in view the training needs in the region, SAF Pakistan chapter offered one month training to a mental health professional from Bangladesh. The trainee spent one month at Fountain House Lahore and gained a considerable experience in community psychiatry, rehabilitation. The expenses for the travel were born by SAF international and local hospitality was extended by SAF Pakistan chapter.

Activities for 2006

Following are some of the activities for the New Year:

21-22 January, 2006   Lahore, Pakistan

24-26 February, 2006   Colombo, Sri Lanka

10-12 March, 2006 Lahore, Pakistan

SAF Pakistan organized a meeting on Media & Psychiatry in collaboration with WPA and other local organizations in Lahore. This event was attended by a large number of media and mental health professionals from Pakistan. The speakers from abroad included Dr. Avdesh Sharma (India), Prof. S.C. malik (India), Dr. A Kala (India) and Dr. Afzal Javed (UK).

21-25 May, 2006 Toronto, Canada

At APA meeting in Toronto, SAF Canadian and US chapters are organizing a joint session. This is very important activity that is bringing SAF closer to international organizations.

For details please contact

22-26 August, KL, Malaysia

Launch of Malaysian chapter at the annual conference of Malaysian Psychiatric association will attract a number of local and regional professionals. It is hoped that Malaysian chapter will take a lead role in estabilishing its links with ASEAN countries.

For details, pleas contact Prof. Maniam tmaniam@yahoo.com

10-12 November, 2006 Jaipur, India

At this annual meeting of Association of private Psychiatrists, the SAF Indioan chapter is having an slot for setting guidelines for private Psychiatry in the developing countries. For details please contact Dr. Neelam Bohara bohraneelam@hotmail.com.

17-19 November, 2006 Katmandu, Nepal

At the second SAARC conference for Mental Health, the SAF Nepal chapter  will organize a session looking at the future collaboration with the SAARC countries .

For further details contact Prof. A. Malik, President of SAARC Federation for Mental health profmalik@yahoo.com.

24-26 Nov, 2006, Melbourne, Australia

At this annual meeting of South Asian Forum Australian Chapter & IAPA, the Australian chapter plans to organize special training workshops for the psychiatrists from Pacific Islands in addition to a number of academic sessions.

The contact persons are Prof. Bruce Singh and Prof. Russell De’Souza rdosuza1@bigpond.net.au.

2-6 December, Dubai, UAE

This will be the annual meeting of South Asian forum UK chapter and like UK chapter’s previous meetings, this will again be big event attracting anumber of delegates from UK and the South Asian region..

Details from Dr.Asaf  Khan asafmkhan@hotmail.com.

8-10^th December, Joint meeting of SAF Pakistan & India

This will be the second meeting of SAF India & Pakistan chapters. It will again be a well attended meeting by m,embers from both of our chaoters.

For details please contact Dr. E Mohandas  emohandas@sancharnet.in

Prof. Haroon Rashid Chaudhry  pprc@wol.net.pk

Training programmes in 2006

• One month training at Fountain Hose, Lahore, Pakistan for  a mental health professional from Sri Lanka and Nepal
• Training course on Forensic psychiatry by SAF India chapter for the Bangladesh colleagues at Dhaka
• Training in the field of Psychosocial rehabilitation at NIMHANS Bangalore, India by Prof. Murali’s team.