*18-Jan-2012* * * *KOCHI *: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will soon come up with guidelines to integrate mental health in the disaster management action plan to help people cope up with post-disaster traumatic disorders, said Maj Gen J K Bansal, member, NDMA.
The NDMA will work with the National Mental Health Programme to ensure that proper assessment be made of the affected population and also include trauma health indicators like toxic side-effects, weight gain, psychiatric problems into the treatment protocol. It has been seen that 60 percent of the people return to normal activity with a month of the disaster while 30 percent of the remaining population takes about six months to recover from the shock or tragedy. "The worst psychosocial impact recorded is during the bombing of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki which incapacitated several generations mentally." Delivering the inaugural address at the Indian Global Psychiatric Initiative (IGPI-2012) in Kochi on Tuesday, he quoted instances when people over-reacted out of fear. "The Sikkimese were unable to sleep following the earthquake that hit the region in September 2011. They believed that rising number of tourists to the North-east was causing the earthquakes!" Maj Gen Bansal said that during the Tsunami tragedy it was seen that despite the warning of a second Tsunami, affected people refused to move stating that they had nothing more to lose, having lost relatives and homes in the first Tsunami. "We spent some months with the locals and helped them return to normal." Among others who spoke at the function include Dr Russel D Souza, president IGPI Australia, Dr John Oldhan, World Psychiatric Association USA, Dr D Natrajan, Dr Prem Nair, Dr Keshavan Kutty and Dr Dinesh Narayanan. Later, speaking to TOI, Maj Gen Bansal said that it was the responsibility of states to ensure that industries meet the necessary safety precautions as per the guidelines of NDMA. A chemical expert, Bansal said that after an interaction with stakeholders it was decided that under the NDMA's initiative, vehicle-mounted Mobile Radiation Detection Systems will be given to state agencies so that any unusual chemical activity in the air will be immediately detected. He said that they were in discussion with the DRDO labs for transfer of disaster management tools like Sanjeevani for detecting people caught in earthquake, landslide and Tharangani to detect depth of water during tragedies. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/Disaster-Trauma-care-to-be-part-of-NDMA-action-plan/articleshow/11536452.cms -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
