Ministry Report: 3.2 Crore Patients, Only 470 Psyc...

Summary

• ISLAMABAD : In a damning indictment of Pakistan’s health system, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination’s official report based on Global Burden of Disease Studies, presented in the National Assembly, has revealed that 3 crore 20 lakh 40 thousand Pakistanis are suffering from mental health disorders requiring care for a population of 25.52 crore, while the country has only 470 active psychiatrists in the field – a ratio of one doctor for every 542,553 people.
• The Ministry report, which forms the backbone of Pakistan’s new National Mental Health Policy 2026-35 launched at the Global Mental Health Summit on October 1-2, 2026 in Islamabad, further reveals that Islamabad alone has 3 lakh mental patients while the entire country has just 1,050 registered psychiatrists (470 active) – Punjab 406, Sindh 228, KP 122, Balochistan 44 – leaving a 95% treatment gap.
• While the Ministry quotes 1,050 registered figure, its own referenced national study – Pakistan’s first nationally representative mental health survey published in BMJ Public Health in September 2026 after interviewing 17,773 adults from 2019-2022 – estimates active doctors at approximately 470 psychiatrists, equivalent to 0.19 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, with specialists concentrated largely in urban centres.

AI Generated Summary

ISLAMABAD : In a damning indictment of Pakistan’s health system, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination’s official report based on Global Burden of Disease Studies, presented in the National Assembly, has revealed that 3 crore 20 lakh 40 thousand Pakistanis are suffering from mental health disorders requiring care for a population of 25.52 crore, while the country has only 470 active psychiatrists in the field – a ratio of one doctor for every 542,553 people.