WHO lauds Thai doctor for mental health

Dr Prat Boonyawongvirot yesterday received a WHO award in recognition of his dedication to developing at least 10 projects to improve the mental health of people across the country.

The projects initiated by Prat would be used as a model for other countries in the region to develop services to advance the quality of life and happiness for people, said Dr Samlee PlianBangchang, the WHO's director for Southeast Asia.

Among his projects to improve mental health services and treatment are mental health capacity development, community mental health development using monks as counsellors for people with mental health problems, and a network of mental health services in the provinces from the community level to hospitals.

He also set up mental health crisis centres in provincial hospitals and organised a search for children with autistic disorders in a bid to give them access to treatment in the early stages of the disease. This project is under the patronage of the late Princess Galyani Vadhana.

To encourage young people to do good deeds for society, Prat started projects called "To Be Number One" and "Friend Corner" under Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya to steer teenagers far away from drug abuse and addiction. Now over 29 million teenagers are members of this nationwide campaign.

He also set up Thailand as an international training centre for Southeast Asia countries including China.

Thanks to his efforts to develop mental health services, over 1.3 million sufferers could gain access to treatment.