Crackdown on unregulated mental health centres demanded July 24, 2021 Islamabad : Sympathizing with the family of Noor Mukaddam, whose gruesome murder on Eid day will continue haunt every Pakistani for years, the Pakistan Psychiatric Society (PPS) has invited the government’s attention to the mushroom growth of unregulated mental health centres of the kind where Noor’s alleged murderer Zahir Jaffer had reportedly received his ‘training’ and had even worked as a ‘counselor,’ treating individuals and conducting sessions in educational institutions. “The critical shortage of qualified mental health providers in Pakistan, including psychiatrists, has not only deprived our population of quality, evidence-based mental health services but has also allowed the mushroom growth of unsupervised centers all over the country. These centers are preying on the unsuspecting public of Pakistan, charging huge sums of money for substandard, sometimes dangerous, services without any oversight or any recourse available to patients and families harmed by them,” the PPS has flagged in a statement issued here on Friday.