The Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mehmood decided to close all educational institutions from 27th April to June 15th, and on May 5th it was announced that a lockdown will be imposed in Punjab on May 8th. While all these measures were taken to encourage people to stay at home and protect themselves from the coronavirus, it also increases the chance of playing online games.
Last year, during the month of July, the PTA banned an online game called Players Unknown Battleground or PUBG, for short, as the government believed it was associated to three suicide cases that occurred in the same year. The government later lifted the ban, however in case the government feels online games are affecting people’s mental health during the upcoming lockdown and decide to ban them again, they could take the advice of leading mental health experts in the country to ask if such a decision will be useful or not. They could further ask these mental health experts on how suicide or other mental health problems could be prevented during lockdowns. The government could then take measures according to their advice.
If the government keeps in view the advice of mental health experts when dealing with issues relating to mental health, there might be a decrease in mental health issues in the country.
Hafsa Hussain
KARACHI
