1-Feb-2013 BELGAUM : After discontinuing mental health
programmes for three years, the State government is all set to put it back in
place with adequate budgetary support. The government has agreed to make
budgetary allocation to set up rehabilitation centres, residential schools for
mentally challenged children and de-addiction centres in all the 30 districts.
Well-known psychiatrist K.A. Ashok Pai from Shimoga, who heads the Karnataka
State Mental Health Task Force, held a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner and
officials of the Health Department here on Wednesday.
He said the task force had been set up to help the government transform the
State into a “model health county” in the country.
He said the mental health programme, which was initially began as a pilot
project in Bangalore, Chamarajanagar and Gulbarga, was started in 2004 but
discontinued after 2009. Though the feedback on this programme was highly
encouraging, the programme ended, Dr. Pai said. However, it got a new lease of
life recently with the government committing to support the programme by
allocating funds, he said.
The government had proposed to allocate Rs. 4 crore each to set up psychosocial
rehabilitation centres, Rs. 8 crore each to set up residential schools, and Rs.
4 crore each for de-addiction and rehabilitation centres for those suffering
from cerebral palsy.
Dr. Pai, who stressed the need for propagating the concept of positive mental
health through psycho-education and creating awareness to identify primary
mental health disorder symptoms at an early stage, quoted independent surveys
which said 2 per cent of the Indian population suffered from psychosis
(schizophrenia, depression, bipolar affective disorder, paranoia); 6 per cent
from neurosis (anxiety, phobia, hysteria, obsessive compulsive disorder,
somatoform disorders); 4 per cent from personality disorders, drug abuse,
deviant sexual behaviour, psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies, and 2 per
cent from behaviour disorders secondary to organic brain damage, mental
retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, and multiple disability. Fourteen per cent
of the population need mental health, he said. Cases of suicide because of
mental health disorders were alarming, with one suicide every three minutes and
one individual attempting suicide every second across the world, Dr. Pai said.
Around 75 lakh of the nearly six crore people in the State need routine mental
health check-up, he said.
Presently, there were only 250 psychiatrists, 200 clinical psychologists and a
few psychiatric social workers in the State. The total inpatient beds in the
State were less than 300, excluding NIMHANS in Bangalore and the mental
hospital in Dharwad. While 50 psychiatrists were trained in the State every
year, many of them went abroad for better opportunities. The task force would
work towards filling this gap, Dr. Pai added.
Deputy Commissioner V. Anbukkumar promised to provide all support to achieve
the objectives of the task force in the district. Task force set up to help
the government transform State into a ‘model health county’: Pai
Funds to be allocated to set up rehabilitation and de-addiction centres, and
residential schools
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/mental-health-programmes-to-be-revived-in-state-after-three-years/article4367725.ece
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