The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : One psychiatrist for over 2,000 students at IISc.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

One psychiatrist for over 2,000 students at IISc.

Divya Gandhi

Supervisors have very little time to help students
Action yet to be taken on suggestion to start a helpline

Bangalore: Two student suicides in three months at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have raised several issues — not least the absence of effective counselling for students at a premiere institute where pressures abound.

Little appears to have changed after the suicide in August of 21-year-old Ajay Shrichandra, a Ph. D. student, say students at IISc, even as they deal with the news of the suicide of 32-year-old Ph. D scholar R. Chitra on Monday night.

A student who had known Ms. Chitra for several years called her “very intelligent” whose suicide shocked him. “Chitra had suffered from depression a year ago, but seemed to have overcome it. But we need sophisticated counselling to deal with complex psychological problems,” he said.

The Health Centre had only one trained psychiatrist for student strength of over 2,000, and supervisors often had very little time to help students with emotional problems, he added.

Another Ph. D. student from the Physical Sciences Division said he had approached senior members of the administration with suggestions of a telephone helpline soon after Shrichandra’s suicide, but nothing had happened.

“We had recommended a telephone helpline to protect the privacy of people who sought help. There is still considerable stigma attached to mental health issues in the country, and IISc. is no different. Not everyone is comfortable to go for counselling sessions at the busy Health Centre.” But although suggestions streamed in after every suicide, rarely did they translate into action, he said. A committee of seven members formed after the death of Shrichandra submitted a report a month ago to Director P. Balaram in which the need to improve student counselling facilities had been expressed, according to V.H Arakeri, Dean of the Engineering Faculty and chairman of the committee.

Avenues needed

“We need to strengthen avenues for students to express their problems, both in terms of trained counsellors and qualified psychiatrists, and also in identifying faculty counsellors whom students can easily approach,” Mr. Arakeri said.

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