GB govt plans reforms to prevent suicides.

GILGIT -- Gilgit-Baltistan government has decided to undertake reforms to overhaul health, education and police departments to prevent the rising cases of suicide in the region, officials have said.

A steering committee, chaired by GB Chief Secretary Mohiyuddin Ahmad Wani, deliberated upon the 'one-year action plan' to prevent suicides and address mental health issues in the region.

The committee has decided to establish forensic laboratories, improve data sharing between health and police departments, reform the curriculum to add mental health and its allied components, appoint medico-legal doctors, crack down on unlicensed weapons and regulate the sales of sedatives, hypnotic drugs and poisons.

The facilities for autopsies will be made available in each district within three days and medico-legal doctors will be notified within two days. Moreover, forensic laboratories in each district will be established by June 2023.

The health department will identify and nominate medico-legal officers from divisional and district headquarter hospitals for training within a week and immediately appoint psychologists. Regular training for lady health workers will be organised while psychologists and psychiatrists will...