NHRC's day-long Meeting with State Health Secretaries concludes in New Delhi with several important suggestions (04.9.2015)
PRESS RELEASE
New Delhi, 4th September, 2015
A day-long Meeting of State Health Secretaries on Mental Healthcare, organized by the National Human rights Commission concluded in New Delhi today. Mr. Justice Cyriac Joseph, Acting Chairperson, NHRC in his concluding remarks said that Right to Mental Health is a human right and the Centre and the State Governments have a Constitutional obligation to protect and promote this human right.
He also said that given the general inhibition of the people in visiting Mental Healthcare hospitals, it would be perhaps more appropriate that the Governments considered opening a Psychiatric Wing in the existing District Hospitals instead of focusing on setting up Specialized Psychiatric or Mental Healthcare Hospitals.
Earlier, the Union Health Secretary, Mr. Bhanu Pratap Sharma said that the Centre will be upgrading more institutions as 'Centers of Excellence' for Mental Healthcare. The new Mental Health Bill will be placed before Parliament in the coming Winter Session. He said that the feedback available with the Union Health & Family Ministry is that the States were not submitting the Utilization Certificate of funds to release them. However, he will get reviewed the problems, if any, in this regard.
On the key issue of funds from the Centre to the States and non-utilization of the same by them, it was felt that whereas the States needed to use them and submit Utilization Certificates, the Centre will ensure timely release of more funds for Mental Healthcare.
Some of the other important suggestions were as follows:
1. Psychiatry must be made compulsory for all Under-Graduate students to meet the shortage of doctors in Mental Healthcare.
2. All General Medical Practitioners must be provided training on basic Mental Healthcare.
3. The medical staff put on duty in Mental Healthcare should have a specialized training.
4. Train civil servants regarding the District Mental Health Programme to help them integrate it with National Rural Health Mission and other flagship programmes having a health component such as ICDS.
5. Innovate and fine tune the District Mental Health Programme while applying it in urban areas.
6. Strengthen the NGO support base in Mental Healthcare.
7. Develop clear guidelines on salaries of various categories of Mental Healthcare professionals and ensure regular disbursement of funds for that purpose.
8. The rehabilitation mechanism under District Mental Health Programme requires to be strengthened.
9. Livelihood of the cured persons must be linked to their treatment.
10. States and UTs must consider learning and adopting the good practices of each other in the Mental Healthcare.
11. District Mental Health Programme must be fine tuned to pay special attention to the issues of homeless mentally-ill persons.
In the morning, the NHRC Acting Chairperson, Mr. Justice Cyriac Joseph, in his Inaugural Address said that having a new law on Mental Healthcare may be useful but we have already enough laws. The real problem is not the absence of a law but the failure to implement the existing ones. Intellectually, we are concerned about the attention, the Mental Healthcare should receive but that does not take us to change of mindsets, attitude and change of heart. The NGOs' role in the rehabilitation of mentally-ill patients needs to be recognized and encouraged by the Governments to address this serious concern.
Mr. S.N. Mohanty, Secretary General, NHRC gave an insight into the efforts made by the Commission towards improvement of Mental Healthcare and said that the Commission is of the firm view that its guidelines and recommendations will give positive results.
Mr. Anshu Prakash, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said that the Centre is paying a focused attention towards Mental Health issue. The National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) is not receiving the due attention from the States. They need to set targets and fix responsibilities to ensure that there is affirmative action on improving the Mental Healthcare.
He said that the huge shortage of human resources, including medical and para-medical staff, lack of infrastructure and general awareness about the Mental Health continues to remain a problem. Nobody talks of co-morbidity of Mental Health with other diseases, which cannot be handled alone either by a psychiatrist or a psychologist without inter-sectoral coordination. Inter-Ministerial as well as institutional cooperation is also very important for addressing the Mental Health issues. Private sector must contribute in building infrastructure and medical students while doing MBBS should be exposed to this subject.
The participants included, among others, NHRC Members, Mr. Justice D. Murugesan and Mr. S.C. Sinha, senior officers, Special Rapporteurs, State Health Secretaries, Mental Health experts and academicians, Heads of Mental Health Institutions and civil society representatives.
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New Delhi, 4th September, 2015
A day-long Meeting of State Health Secretaries on Mental Healthcare, organized by the National Human rights Commission concluded in New Delhi today. Mr. Justice Cyriac Joseph, Acting Chairperson, NHRC in his concluding remarks said that Right to Mental Health is a human right and the Centre and the State Governments have a Constitutional obligation to protect and promote this human right.
He also said that given the general inhibition of the people in visiting Mental Healthcare hospitals, it would be perhaps more appropriate that the Governments considered opening a Psychiatric Wing in the existing District Hospitals instead of focusing on setting up Specialized Psychiatric or Mental Healthcare Hospitals.
Earlier, the Union Health Secretary, Mr. Bhanu Pratap Sharma said that the Centre will be upgrading more institutions as 'Centers of Excellence' for Mental Healthcare. The new Mental Health Bill will be placed before Parliament in the coming Winter Session. He said that the feedback available with the Union Health & Family Ministry is that the States were not submitting the Utilization Certificate of funds to release them. However, he will get reviewed the problems, if any, in this regard.
On the key issue of funds from the Centre to the States and non-utilization of the same by them, it was felt that whereas the States needed to use them and submit Utilization Certificates, the Centre will ensure timely release of more funds for Mental Healthcare.
Some of the other important suggestions were as follows:
1. Psychiatry must be made compulsory for all Under-Graduate students to meet the shortage of doctors in Mental Healthcare.
2. All General Medical Practitioners must be provided training on basic Mental Healthcare.
3. The medical staff put on duty in Mental Healthcare should have a specialized training.
4. Train civil servants regarding the District Mental Health Programme to help them integrate it with National Rural Health Mission and other flagship programmes having a health component such as ICDS.
5. Innovate and fine tune the District Mental Health Programme while applying it in urban areas.
6. Strengthen the NGO support base in Mental Healthcare.
7. Develop clear guidelines on salaries of various categories of Mental Healthcare professionals and ensure regular disbursement of funds for that purpose.
8. The rehabilitation mechanism under District Mental Health Programme requires to be strengthened.
9. Livelihood of the cured persons must be linked to their treatment.
10. States and UTs must consider learning and adopting the good practices of each other in the Mental Healthcare.
11. District Mental Health Programme must be fine tuned to pay special attention to the issues of homeless mentally-ill persons.
In the morning, the NHRC Acting Chairperson, Mr. Justice Cyriac Joseph, in his Inaugural Address said that having a new law on Mental Healthcare may be useful but we have already enough laws. The real problem is not the absence of a law but the failure to implement the existing ones. Intellectually, we are concerned about the attention, the Mental Healthcare should receive but that does not take us to change of mindsets, attitude and change of heart. The NGOs' role in the rehabilitation of mentally-ill patients needs to be recognized and encouraged by the Governments to address this serious concern.
Mr. S.N. Mohanty, Secretary General, NHRC gave an insight into the efforts made by the Commission towards improvement of Mental Healthcare and said that the Commission is of the firm view that its guidelines and recommendations will give positive results.
Mr. Anshu Prakash, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said that the Centre is paying a focused attention towards Mental Health issue. The National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) is not receiving the due attention from the States. They need to set targets and fix responsibilities to ensure that there is affirmative action on improving the Mental Healthcare.
He said that the huge shortage of human resources, including medical and para-medical staff, lack of infrastructure and general awareness about the Mental Health continues to remain a problem. Nobody talks of co-morbidity of Mental Health with other diseases, which cannot be handled alone either by a psychiatrist or a psychologist without inter-sectoral coordination. Inter-Ministerial as well as institutional cooperation is also very important for addressing the Mental Health issues. Private sector must contribute in building infrastructure and medical students while doing MBBS should be exposed to this subject.
The participants included, among others, NHRC Members, Mr. Justice D. Murugesan and Mr. S.C. Sinha, senior officers, Special Rapporteurs, State Health Secretaries, Mental Health experts and academicians, Heads of Mental Health Institutions and civil society representatives.
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