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This refers to the editorial ‘Improving mental health’ (Sept. 19). As rightly pointed out, a combination of institutionalised and personalised interventions is required to tackle the complex dimensions of mental health disorders. More than the symptomatic medical treatment, what is more relevant and effective in the case of neurological diseases is the care and emotional support of the family. This is more so in respect of elderly patients afflicted with dementia. Witnessing the gradual degeneration of the personality in such people is a tragic experience. Cash-rich corporates and NGOs should sponsor institutions dedicated to the total care of mentally challenged persons.

V.N. Mukundarajan,

Thiruvananthapuram

It is hoped that if and when the Planning Commission prepares a national mental health programme, it will take care to change the urban-orientation and the pharmacy-alone basis of the present system and evolve a bio-psycho-social intervention scheme.

Dr. N.M. Mohammed Ali,

Thiruvananthapuram

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