ISLAMABAD: Located just 30 minutes from Islamabad in the picturesque village of Pind Begwal, a unique ambulance center focuses exclusively on mental health patients in and around Pakistan’s federal capital.
The service, named Embrace, was initiated as a pilot project by public health professional Abdullah bin Abbas during the COVID-19 pandemic before it was officially launched last month.
The center addresses Pakistan’s significant mental health challenges, where about 24 million people are affected according to 2023 World Health Organization estimates.
It provides specialized transportation for patients, many of whom display behaviors that are challenging for families to manage, such as isolation or suicidal tendencies.
Operating three ambulances, the service focuses on discreetly moving patients to receive appropriate care, thereby helping to mitigate the stigma associated with mental health issues in the country.
“Since it’s official launch, we have received an amazing response from the public and we have handled 60 to 70 cases just within the past month and this volume is increasing regularly,” Abbas, the center’s chief executive officer, told Arab News on Tuesday.
The concept of mental health ambulances was first tested in Sweden to assist those experiencing psychological distress. This innovative approach allowed for basic help and services to be delivered directly to individuals’ doorsteps, providing timely treatment and transportation to rehabilitation facilities when needed.
Abbas noted that even in major Pakistani cities, the mental health care infrastructure was inadequate. He pointed out this also prompted him to launch the ambulance service after securing initial funding from Columbia University.
“There are a lot of rehab centers and clinics that are being operated in some very unethical environments,” he continued. “So, what we wanted to do was provide a service to the general public which is accessible, affordable and operated in a professional and ethical manner.”
He noted that Embrace had established standards in line with international protocols, under the guidance of an oversight committee that included psychiatrists and psychologists.
He also pointed out that the transport vehicles were designed to be discreet, without any markings to indicate they were serving mental health patients.
“We have a total staff of 15 people that includes both men and women, and they have been extensively trained in psychological first aid, compassionate communication, and how to handle psychiatric patients,” he said, adding that the Embrace staff had interned at various psychiatric clinics and learned how to respond to emergencies.
To make the venture financially viable, the ambulance facility charges for its services based on the patient’s financial condition while keeping it free for deserving patients.
Zainab Nosheen, a first responder nurse at the center, said whenever a call for the ambulance service comes in, the team investigates whether the person needs to be shifted to a health care facility.
“If there is a female patient, then female staff go and help the patient shift to the desired hospital or clinic,” she said, adding the first step was a conversation with the family about the patient’s condition.
“Then, our first attempt is to make the patient agree to go to the doctor with us,” she added. “For that, we have different strategies which vary from patient to patient. At times, our communication takes 30 to 40 minutes to convince the patient to come with us.”
Arshad Mahmood, another first responder, said he had transported 25 patients using the Embrace ambulance service in the last two years, noting that some patients exhibited violent and threatening behavior.
“To deal with such situations, we have also taken self-defense training,” he told Arab News.
“Once we shift the patient into the ambulance, then the attendant decides which hospital to take them to for treatment, and we act accordingly,” he added.

ISLAMABAD: At least 143 people died in Pakistan from lightning strikes and other storm-related incidents in April, with the country receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, officials said Tuesday.
April brought flash floods, landslides and inclement weather that caused houses to collapse in some areas and destroyed crops in others.
Pakistan saw a rainfall “increase of 164 percent above the normal levels in April, which is very unusual,” said Zaheer Ahmad Babar, spokesperson for the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
“We’ve observed these erratic weather patterns as a direct result of climate change,” he told AFP.
Pakistan is increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable weather, as well as often-destructive monsoon rains that usually arrive in July.
The largest death toll for April was in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 83 people died, including 38 children, and where more than 3,500 homes have been damaged.
“The fatalities resulted from roof collapse and landslide incidents,” Anwar Shahzad, spokesman for the province’s disaster management authority, told AFP on Tuesday.
In some northern parts of Punjab, the country’s most populous province, harvests of wheat, a staple food, were spoiled by hailstorms.
Environmental expert Maryam Shabbir Abbasi told AFP that overall weather patterns had shifted by “about a month and a half, and we should shift our calendars for the agriculture sector accordingly to avoid damages caused by unprecedented rainfall.”
Officials earlier this month said several people, including farmers harvesting wheat, were killed by lightning in Punjab, and that a total of 21 people were killed in different rain-related incidents.
Another 21 deaths were reported in Balochistan province in April, including seven people who were struck by lightning, with rain disrupting life in some districts and causing school closures.
In parts of Azad Kashmir, 14 people were killed, and at least four were killed in road accidents linked to floods in southern Sindh province.
In the summer of 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost the country $30 billion in damages and economic losses, according to a World Bank estimate.
As several parts of the country were battered by heavy rains this month, Karachi, the largest city, experienced its hottest day of the year on Sunday, with temperatures soaring to 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit).