‘NIMHANS should mentor mental hospitals in country’

Union Health Minister urges State govt. to help in this effort

Expressing the need to institutionalise psychiatry departments in various medical colleges and hospitals across the country, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said NIMHANS should mentor these institutions so that they can be converted into academic centres.

Delivering an address at the 24th convocation of NIMHANS here, he said, “NIMHANS can be a mentor institution just like a university for all the hospitals and colleges that cater to mental health in the country. It requires the State governments also to be on board. We will facilitate this.”

Lauding the academic achievements of NIMHANS, the Minister said, “I was happy to learn that you are linking 100 medical colleges through tele-medicine to improve teaching in mental health. NIMHANS director B.N. Gangadhar informed me of a very good plan of utilising the 20,000 beds from across 43 mental hospitals in the country and converting them into academic centres.”

He suggested that being a mentor NIMHANS could give them degrees and the management of hospitals would be vested with the State government. “These incubation centres are surely a way forward and would complement the ongoing efforts to enhance postgraduate training in mental health and allied disciplines,” he said.

Calling upon NIMHANS to ensure that by 2022 no patient in Karnataka is deprived of mental health care, the Union Minister said it should work towards reducing the huge treatment gap as indicated in the National Mental Health Survey.

Requesting Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to sanction an additional 50 acres of land to NIMHANS for setting up the proposed Comprehensive Trauma Care Centre in North Bengaluru, he said, “You give the land and we will provide the funds.”

Earlier, Mr. Yediyurappa urged the Union Minister to sanction three All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like institutions to Karnataka – one each in north, south and central Karnataka. “I promise that the State government will provide all necessary support in establishing these institutions,” he said.

“Of the 40 acres that had been allotted for the NIMHANS north campus, we have already handed over 30 acres and the remaining will be given soon. If there is any additional requirement of land that will also be taken care of,” he added.

ESIC Hospital in Kalaburagi

NIMHANS is working on starting its centre in ESIC Hospital, Kalaburagi. This is based on a request by ESIC, said Mr. Gangadhar. He said that an MoU in this regard would be signed soon.

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