Government To Lay Stress On Mental Healthcare Facilities In Country
The government on Friday informed the parliament that the country is confronting an acute shortage of psychiatrists as well as mental health experts, and to overcome this problem, it is establishing centres of excellence in mental health.
Smt. P. Lakshmi, minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, told the Rajya Sabha that as per the report of a recent survey conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), the occurrence of mental disorders is about 7% of the country’s total population and out of this, 3% need treatment.
She said, “Close to three percent of the population need active treatment. There is, however, shortage of psychiatrists and mental health professionals in the country.”
In order to deal with the shortage, the administration will start manpower development schemes including setting up of centres of excellence in mental health.
Smt. Lakshmi stated that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken a lead to solve this crucial issue and the Medical Council of India has guaranteed to create more awareness among medical college students to take up postgraduate course in psychiatry.
The Medical Council has granted permission in 2005-2008 to commence Doctors of Medicine (MD) in Psychiatry courses at 18 institutes and Diploma in Psychological Medicine (DPM) course in 7 institutes.
Moreover, the council also asked 4 medical institutions to raise the total number of seats in MD (Psychiatry) course.
“This has resulted in addition of 25 seats in MD (Psychiatry) course and eight seats in DPM course,” she said.
Under the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP), the central government is promoting the psychiatric sections of medical colleges and hospitals in states and increasing and updating the mental hospitals to make them curative units.
She added that the health ministry has also decided to re-plan the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) that aims to widen the district mental health programmes to more regions in a phased manner.
