(Clearwisdom.net)

(June 19, 2002) The Central News Agency, Taipei Office, reported the findings of the Guangdong provincial government's recent teleconference on mental health. Currently, approximately 1.2 million people are suffering from various kinds of mental illnesses in that Province. 400,000 of these people are considered mentally disabled.

The Central News Agency reported that the morbidity rate of mental health cases in Guangdong Province has risen to 1.5%. An issue of further concern is the harm caused by the lack of effective treatment and management of these patients. In 2000 there were 1,710 cases of criminal offenses related to mental health patients, 3.5 times the number of cases in 1997.