China faces shortage of qualified psychiatrists

However,Yueqin estimated that only five per cent of sufferers were aware of their condition and try to seek treatment.

“The government did not pay much attention to people’s mental health over the past 50 years,and did not invest much in treatment or care,” she was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

“However,the current five-year plan (for 2007-2012) has included mental illness treatment as a major field of research,which is a big step forward,” the director said.

China has only recently recognised the scale of the problem and begun to allocate resources towards treating people with mental illness.

Yueqin said China suffers from a serious lack of qualified psychiatrists since the profession was banned during Cultural Revolution (1966-76) launched by ‘Chairman’ Mao Zedong.