Aimed at assessing the outcome of a 2 wk course in psychiatry for a group of 14 primary health care (PHC) physicians 1 mo and 2 yrs later. A pre-intervention World Health Organization questionnaire was administered just before the course and a post-intervention one was completed 1 mo and 2 yrs after the course. A scoring system for 3 vignette cases (depression, alcohol dependency and anxiety with panic attacks) was created and validated by 2 consultants in order to measure the diagnosis and management skills of the PHC physicians before and after the course. 57% of the sample were not exposed to any postgraduate course in psychiatry and the same percentage had no interest. After the course, the self-report of the PHC physicians differed significantly. The referral rate, the prescription rate of psychotropic drugs and the number of counselling sessions increased significantly for patients with mental disorders. The scores for diagnostic skills improved dramatically. For management, only depressive disorders showed a significant change in score while skill in managing anxiety and alcohol dependence did not improve significantly after the course. A 2 wk training course in psychiatry for PHC physicians is effective in improving their diagnostic skills.