Stress on preventing mental health issues

Interview with Dr Rajani P, Psychiatrist and Deputy Director, Mental Health, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Karnataka

Dr Rajani P, Psychiatrist and Deputy Director, Mental Health, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Karnataka spoke to DH’s Anupama Ramakrishnan on the government’s efforts to provide accessible mental healthcare across the state.

Is there a systematic approach taken by the government in providing mental healthcare, especially in rural areas?

Under the National Mental Health Programme, we have implemented the District Mental Health Programme across the state with a team of seven members comprising psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, two nurses and two support staff. This is apart from the mental health teams at district hospitals and medical colleges. District mental health teams cater to needy people at the taluk and sub-district. This programme sensitises the doctors, Asha workers, Anganwadi staff, school teachers, agriculture and horticulture department staff, elected representatives, gatekeepers for suicide prevention etc so that the stigma against mental health issues will come down.

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Last year, we have given 10.60 lakh consultations in public health institutions across the state.

We are doing teleconsultations because of the Covid-situation. Around 11.3 lakh teleconsultations have been given since last March and it is an ongoing thing.

Is enough being done for the mental healthcare of the young and adolescents?

In terms of preventing mental health issues, we have been doing life skills education for the teachers and students so that a lot of promotions happen which will help them in solving adolescent problems. Forty per cent of problems that we see in adults starts from childhood and adolescence itself. When you take care of the children and adolescents, a lot of psychiatric problems that happen in adulthood can be prevented.

How innovative is the state in mental healthcare?

We have e-manas, an interactive portal for the implementation of Mental Healthcare Act 2017. We have been piloting community-based rehabilitation of severe mental health disorders. We have the Manochaitanya programme wherein at the sub-district level itself, we do two lakh consultations and are also trying to ensure first-line treatment at Primary Health Centres.

We have psychiatrists in most of the districts in Karnataka. We have also sensitised MLHPs (Middle-Level Health Care Providers) to cater to the mentally ill.