The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Daily dietary allowance for IMH inpatients doubled

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Thursday, Aug 21, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Daily dietary allowance for IMH inpatients doubled

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The daily dietary allowance for inpatients of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Kilpauk has been doubled, Health Minister M.R.K. Paneerselvam announced on Wednesday.

Commissioning a new building for the psychiatry department at the Government General Hospital, the Minister said the order hiking the dietary allowance from the current Rs. 13 to Rs. 26 would be issued in a week or so.

The allowance hike, on the initiative of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, would benefit about 1,600 patients at IMH, he said.

The Minister expressed surprise that the psychiatry unit at the premier hospital had to wait for 60 years to get its own building. The project was implemented on Rs. 50 lakh sanctioned under a scheme of the Union government’s national mental health programme.

The government had embarked on a major Rs. 700 crore civil works exercise to construct new buildings at State-run hospitals across Tamil Nadu as part of development initiatives on various fronts. The completion of these projects would contribute to improving healthcare infrastructure in the government sector.

Some of the projects under implementation were at Stanley Medical College (Rs. 100 crore), Institute of Child Health (Rs. 15 crore), Kilpauk Medical College (Rs. 45 crore), the Chengalpattu Medical College (Rs. 25 crore), a speciality hospital in Salem (Rs. 120 crore) and the Medical College in Madurai (Rs. 120 crore).

Mr. Paneerselvam said the demand for psychiatry care would significantly increase in future given the stress levels prevalent in contemporary lifestyles.

Women, with far less outlets to relieve their stress and mostly confined to their daily chores at home, were more likely to be affected than men, he said. Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj said new courses had been designed to generate more specialists in the field of psychiatry care. The courses included M. Phil. in psychology, psychiatry, social work and psychiatry nursing.

Mr. Subburaj said the increase in the proportions of people undergoing some form of psychological disorders was a global phenomenon.

Sarada Menon, psychiatrist, said the overcrowding in mental hospitals would be resolved to a great extent if psychiatry facilities were developed at district-level institutions.

R. Sathianathan, IMH director, T.P. Kalanithi, GGH Dean and N. Vijaya, professor also participated.

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