Mental Health Service After Disaster: Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

Bangladesh is a disaster prone country. According to one record during last 100 years, there had been 75 severe cyclones and floods in Bangladesh. On the other hand as many as 1200 kilometer of river banks are under active erosion in every year. The government of Bangladesh, nongovernmental organizations, members of the civil society, the health professionals – all of them have chalked out their programme embedded with economic relief and assistance. At best, some sort of medical aid in the form of medicine and physical treatment and recovery are extended to the affected people. The severity of mental and psychological trauma and casualties had always remained beyond their imagination. For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, multiple teams consisted of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and other support service staffs rushed to the Cyclone affected area to estimate the need for psychosocial care and for providing management on 2007. In 2013 a multistoried has collapsed in Bangladesh and died more than thousand peoples. Currently, the National Plan for Disaster Management 2010-2015 keeps no space for the people who ardently need post disaster psychosocial care. Consequently, the mental health care professionals are strongly lobbying for inclusion of post-disaster psychosocial rehabilitation service within the National Plan for Disaster Management. Mainstream health professionals specially the primary health care providers should be brought under coverage of a full-fledged training course on disaster psychiatry. In addition, infrastructure development and administrative reform is urgently required in this arena.