Tamil Nadu   

Integrated health care to mentally ill proposed

Special Correspondent

Official calls for developing cost-effective models to cover all districts

HIGHLIGHTING PROBLEMS: The caregiver of a mentally ill woman speaks at an interactive session at the national workshop on mental illness in Chennai on Sunday. — PHOTO: SHAJU JOHN

CHENNAI: Mental health service providers will soon develop a district-wise plan to provide integrated health care to the mentally ill, Supriya Sahu, Project Director, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, said here on Sunday.

Cost-effective models had to be developed to take mental health care to the districts. The Government was working on a partnership document, including a survey of the mentally ill, she said during a panel discussion at the second national workshop on mental illness and homelessness, organised by the Banyan, which works for the mentally ill and destitute women.

Mental health care should be made an integral part of the medical curriculum and all medical college/district headquarters hospitals and primary health centres should provide mental health services.

Sustained efforts sought

Voluntary movements and citizen groups should take the voice of the mentally ill to the policy makers through sustained efforts, Jaisimha Babu, former judge of the Madras High Court, said.

Srinivasa Murthy, Mental Health wing, World Health Organisation, said the challenges faced by service providers were crystallising core mental health services, empowering non-professional care givers to incorporate mental health services into their work and concentrating more on action-oriented rather than ideology-driven programmes.

There was a need to create a strong advocacy group to press for more funds to the mental health sector, said Ramesh Bhat, professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. More funds should be made available to districts under the District Mental Health Programme.

Role of private sector

One of the issues that had to be addressed when developing a public-private partnership model for mental health care was how the private sector could be motivated to deviate from the profit model and substitute philanthropy for business, Sudeep Singh Gadok, project officer, Mental Health, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, said.

The right to mental health care should be reaffirmed and it should be brought to the attention of the democratic polity, Jean Dreze, visiting faculty, Delhi School of Economics, said.

Information about the status of mental health care in the country should be made available to all stakeholders.

The workshop was aimed at throwing open the mental health sector to the community, addressing the needs of the weaker sections and highlighting the lack of human resources, said Vandana Gopikumar, founder-trustee, the Banyan.

The organisation, aided by the corporate sector, would open a school next year to impart training on various aspects of mental health care. The plan being proposed by the Government would first be tested by the Banyan in Kancheepuram and, if possible, Madurai and Vellore. Kancheepuram and Vellore were not covered by the District Mental Health Programme.

Inmates of the Banyan presented various case studies during the workshop and articulated the need for extending franchise rights to the homeless mentally ill, creating awareness of the disability pension and protecting the legal rights of the mentally ill.

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