COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
� ―Sri Lanka Sumithrayo – based in Colombo but with 13 branches across the
country providing counsellors and trained volunteers -
www.srilankasumithrayo.org
� ―Basic Needs – capacity building of communities, partner organisations and
primary health care workers to help to the stigma surrounding mental health -
http://www.basicneeds.org/srilanka/index.asp
23.27 The Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders) undated Focus on Sri
Lanka 466 , noted that: ―Since November 2010, MSF has provided counselling to people
suffering from mental trauma in partnership with the Kilinochchi District Mental Health
Unit, in the far north of Sri Lanka. Most patients were suffering from bereavement or
missing family members because of the conflict. Staff held both individual and family
counselling sessions.‖
Psychiatrists and psychologists
23.28 The BHC letter of 31 January 2012 467 observed that: ―There are no psychologists
working within the public sector although there are [sic] 1 teaching at the University of
Colombo. There are no numbers available for psychologists working within the private
sector. There are currently 55 psychiatrists attached to the Ministry of Health and
working across the country.‖
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
23.29 The BHC letter of 31 January 2012 468 observed that:
―Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was first recognised in Sri Lanka in patients
affected by the 2004 tsunami. Many of the psychiatrists and support staff in Sri Lanka
have received training in Australia and the UK for the treatment of the disorder. A
Consultant Psychiatrist from NIMH said that many patients often sought ayurvedic or
traditional treatment for the illness long before approaching public hospitals, adding that
this often resulted in patients then suffering from psychosis.‖
Availability and affordability of anti-depressant and therapeutic drugs
23.30 The BHC letter of 31 January 2012 469 reported that:
―The government through the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) provide free
drugs to patients with mental health problems. Drugs such as Carbamazepine,
Ethosuximide, Phenobarbital, Phenytoinsodium, SodiumValproate, Amitriptyline,
Chlorpromazine, Diazepam, Carbidopa and Levodopa, as well as generic drugs of a
similar kind are all available. SPC are able to procure all Western drugs. Sometimes
there were difficulties obtaining some narcotic items in India, and also Indian drugs were
occasionally sub-standard, but SPC also deal with European suppliers, and often
obtained specific drugs from the UK, France, Germany or Switzerland. For very specific
individual cases, a search would be conducted over the internet to locate the required
466 Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Focus on Sri Lanka, undated
http://www.msf.org.uk/sri_lanka.focus date accessed 27 January 2012
467 British High Commission (BHC) Colombo, letter dated 31 January 2012
468 British High Commission (BHC) Colombo, letter dated 31 January 2012
469 British High Commission (BHC) Colombo, letter dated 31 January 2012
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
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