The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Medical varsity urged to teach psychiatry from first year

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Medical varsity urged to teach psychiatry from first year

Staff Reporter

`30 per cent of people coming to primary health centres were afflicted by mental disorders'

SEMINAR: Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph; V. Gopala Gowda, Judge, High Court of Karnataka; Usha Ganesh, Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare; at a seminar in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: K Murali K umar

BANGALORE: Senior Judge of the Karnataka High Court S.R. Bannurmath on Tuesday said the court had directed the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to incorporate psychiatry in its syllabus from first year MBBS.

This would ensure that all doctors were qualified to treat, at the initial stage, people suffering from mental ailments. He said a number of people were suffering were from mental disorders and there was a dearth of psychiatrists.

He was speaking on the occasion of World Mental Health Day at a seminar on the High Court premises for the mentally disabled organised by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) and the Indian Psychiatric Association (IPA).

Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare and chairperson of the Karnataka State Mental Health Authority Usha Ganesh said mental illnesses were unfortunately considered a social stigma.

She said at least 10 per cent of the population and 30 per cent of people coming to primary health centres were afflicted by mental disorders or ill health.

She said the psychiatry wing in all four government medical colleges, Bangalore, Mysore, Bellary and Hubli, were being upgraded.

She said only 50 percent of the mentally challenged are being treated while the rest are not exposed to treatment.

President of the State wing of the IPA Ananda Pandurangi said by 2020 depression would become the second largest ailment afflicting people in the world. Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Cyriac Joseph said a mentally ill person was frequently subjected to torture and most of it started with the family.

He said there is a need for a drastic change in the attitude of society and parents should not feel ashamed if their children are mentally challenged.

Executive Chairman of the KSLSA and senior judge of the High Court V. Gopal Gowda and KSLSA member secretary A.V. Chandrashekar spoke.

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