The Hindu : Front Page : Mental health programme in all districts: Ramadoss

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 25, 2007
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Mental health programme in all districts: Ramadoss

Staff Reporter

Three major national health programmes in the offing

Says rural health mission a big success
RCC will get
enhanced

Central grant

Thiruvananthapuram: The District Mental Health Programme, envisaged under the National Mental Health Programme, for delivering mental health services at the community level, will be extended to all 14 districts in Kerala, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Anbumani Ramadoss has said.

At present, the programme is being run in seven districts. It should be extended across the State, considering the high burden of mental illnesses and suicides here, Dr. Ramadoss said.

Hi-tech MRI scan

The Minister, who had come to the Regional Cancer Centre on Saturday for inaugurating the hi-tech MRI scan unit acquired by the institution, was interacting with presspersons.

He said the National Rural Health Mission, aimed at better health-care delivery in rural areas, would change the face of public health services in the country in the next four years.

Three years into the programme, the mission was a huge success, he said.

Urban health mission

The Union government would soon announce the launch of the National Urban Health Mission, which was aimed at improving primary health-care services in urban areas and slums, he said.

Three major national health programmes were in the offing. One of them, the National Programme for Prevention of Diabetes and Cardiovascular diseases, would be launched in December.

First phase

The first phase would be implemented at Rs.15 crore. The programme would focus on awareness creation, prevention and early detection of non-communicable diseases and train doctors and nurses on screening people as well as managing the disease.

Programme for school

Dr. Ramadoss said that a National School Health Programme, for screening schoolchildren for blindness, deafness, dental problems, cardiovascular health, anaemia and malnutrition would soon be launched as a public-private partnership initiative.

This was for the early detection and management of diseases, including congenital problems and for reducing risk reduction at an early age, he said.

A National Speech and Hea ring programme was being launched for screening and early detection of hearing impairment in children and helping parents identify it, he said.

The Regional Cancer Centre would be given an enhanced Central grant of at least Rs.25 crore in the 11th Plan, Dr. Ramadoss announced.

He said he was pushing for an allocation of at least Rs.3,000 crore for cancer control programmes in the 11th Plan.

Cancer was a costly disease to treat and the RCCs needed to add diagnostic facilities. Telemedicine links needed to be strengthened so that doctors in the country could easily interact with their counterparts in famous cancer hospitals abroad. The District Cancer Control Programmes would concentrate on awareness creation and early detection of common cancers. He had asked the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) to study the increasing incidence of cancer in the Kanyakumari-Kerala and the Northeast belt. B. Rajan, Director of Regional Cancer Centre, and senior health department officials were present.

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