The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Institute of Mental Health to become centre of excellence

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Friday, Jan 05, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Institute of Mental Health to become centre of excellence

Staff Reporter

Anbumani addressed Indian Psychiatric Society's meet "Centre to invest in modernising 36 mental health institutions"

CLINICAL CLUB: Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss (centre) and Asit Baran Ghosh, president, Indian Psychiatric Society (left) at the conference of the IPS in Chennai on Thursday. Meer Mustafa Hussain, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, is also in the picture. — PHOTO: K. Pichumani

CHENNAI : The Institute of Mental Health in Chennai will be one of the six mental health institutions to be upgraded as regional centres of excellence, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Thursday.

Addressing an annual conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society, he said Rs. 3 crore would be extended to the Chennai institution as an initial measure.

The other centres of excellence are in Bangalore, Ranchi, Chandigarh, Guwahati and Nagpur.

Major programme

According to the Minister, the move is part of a major programme to revamp institutional infrastructure for mental health care across the country.

The Union Government would also invest in modernising the 36 mental health institutions in the country, Dr. Anbumani said. It is estimated that among the high proportions of people who suffered from some forms of psychiatric disorder, at least 1.5 per cent had a severe problem.

In other words, nearly 1.50 crore people needed hospitalisation for their illnesses. However, the bed strength in the country was just around 10,000, he said. Under the prevailing ratio, there was only one psychiatrist per three lakh of the population and in rural areas there was one psychiatrist per million of the population, Dr. Anbumani added.

Stigma, he pointed out, was a bottleneck in broadbasing the community care model in place of institutional care in the country. Therefore, awareness creation would also be an important component of the mental health strategy.

The Minister agreed to examine proposals to make psychiatry posting mandatory and part of internal assessment in undergraduate study and restore the twice-a-year examination schedule of Diplomate of National Board examinations for the psychiatry speciality.

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