The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Community `better equipped' to rehabilitate mentally ill

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 18, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Community `better equipped' to rehabilitate mentally ill

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, OCT. 17. Society is in a better position to take over mental health care and rehabilitation, Health Secretary N. Sundaradevan said here yesterday.

Taking the issue to the larger community is another way of removing the stigma attached to the illness, he said at the IPSOCON 2004, the 37th Annual Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society-South Zone. Mr. Sundaradevan said given the increasing numbers, society was the best bet when it comes to taking care of the mentally ill.

Networking with non-governmental organisations would also be initiated to help with rehabilitation. Mr. Sundaradevan also urged psychiatrists to go in to the social and legal angles of mental illness.

Joint secretary (Health) Supriya Sahu said the State was committed to training mental health professionals, the police and judiciary, to sensitise them about their role in helping the mentally ill.

Unless the Mental health Act is understood correctly, this kind of intervention will not be possible. The health department was also keen in ensuring that treatment and drugs were available at the patients' doorsteps.

Medicines for psychiatric illnesses would be made available free of cost at the Primary Health Centres, Ms. Sahu added. Satellite clinics would enable professional care to reach interior villages too. Earlier, she released the conference souvenir.

Director of Medical Education, P. Vijayalakshmi, released the membership directory and handed it over to the incoming IPS-South Zone president, O.S. Narayanan Kutty.

President elect of the national IPS, S. Nambi, said a national academy of behavioural sciences should be set up in Chennai.

It would serve as a centre to train professionals and encourage research on care, treatment and rehabilitation.

The IPS would also push for a new Mental Health Act in the coming year, he said.

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