Many in South suffer from stress disorder
Since 2004, the unrest in the three southernmost provinces and Songkhla's four districts has affected 20,689 people, while this year alone 13 per cent of the victims have been found suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a senior official s
Deputy Public Health Minister Torpong Chaiyasarn told a seminar in Pattani yesterday that over the past seven years, 4,771 people have been killed, 87 per cent of them civilians, and 8,512 people injured. A total of 2,295 women have been widowed and 5,111 children orphaned, he said, adding that the government had set up teams to provide counselling. He said the authorities had also set up a co-coordinating body at Pattani's Mental Health Centre 15 to watch out for depression, suicide risk, PTSD, anxiety and drug or alcohol addiction.
In a screening exercise in the first six months of this year, six people were found suffering from PTSD, which is above the normal standard of 10 per cent, he said.
Mental Health Department deputy chief Dr Itthipol Sungkhaeng said officials would visit those affected by an incident within 72 hours and provide treatment initially for two weeks. The victims would then be assessed a month after the incident and then three months later to see if the stress levels have dropped. If the victims' state of mind is not deemed satisfactory, a psychiatrist will be sent over to provide medical treatment, he said.
Meanwhile, the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) deputy chief Kamol Rodklai provided moral support and financial assistance to the family of schoolteacher Kanit Lamnui, 38, who was shot dead on Tuesday by insurgents in Yala's Raman district. He said Obec would continue to provide financial assistance as well as help his relatives become teachers.
Director of the Yala Educational Zone Office Region 1, Prasit Nungkoong, said he had urged teachers to not travel alone and contact security officers to prevent any attacks, confirming that Khanit was the 145th teacher to be killed so far.
Early yesterday, a bomb squad in Narathiwat defused an M67 grenade hidden in a wooded area on Tuesday night by two men on a motorcycle after they saw a checkpoint on Saithong 4 Road in the Sungai Kolok Municipality. It is suspected that they were preparing to launch an attack, but hid the bomb after noticing the checkpoint. However, local residents noticed the grenade and alerted the authorities.
