CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, Oct 10: As the world celebrates World Mental Health Day today, it is important to note that the facilities to deal with mental health issues are not up to the mark in Jharkhand. Currently, there are only 90 doctors in 24 districts. Of this, 50 work in Ranchi’s private or government institutions. There are only 90 psychiatrists for the 3.29 crore population.
Moreover, for a population of one lakh, there is only one psychiatrist. In such a situation, a large population is unable to get psychiatric advice if needed. People associated with this profession have been raising this issue for a long time but no concrete measures have been taken so far.
While talking to Lagatar24.com, Ranchi University Professor of Psychology Dr Abha Ekka said that mental health is equal to physical health and in today’s day and age it is very important to take care of your mental health as everyone is in a competitive mood.
“It is very important to note that mental health is directly related to your physical health and if we don’t look after our mental health, it will lead to various fatal health complications such as heart attack. It is very important that know that the next 5 to 10 years are going to be an important phase as far as mental health is concerned. If people don’t take mental health seriously, then by 2030, the scene will be very bad,” she said.
Notably, the state government has made a provision of only Rs 2.15 crore for the mental health program in the current financial year. This is separate from the financial support that RINPAS gets. In 2021, a budget of Rs 2.20 crore was sanctioned.
However, this year the state government has decided to provide training in psychiatry to doctors posted in Primary and Community Health Centers (PHC-CHCs). An agreement has been signed with CIP in this regard.
About 11.1 per cent of the total population of Jharkhand have psychiatric symptoms. This has been said in the data of the National Mental Health Survey of India, Government of India. At the same time, the country’s average is 10.6 per cent. Out of every one lakh, around 3,000 have the problem of depressive disorder. There is a problem of anxiety in 3,500 and intellectual disability in about 5,000.
Dr Abha added that mental health is not only an issue in the urban or suburban areas but it has also become a major problem in many rural areas across Jharkhand as well.
“Since globalisation, things have changed quite a lot. Earlier we used to hear that people in urban areas used to commit suicide due to depression but now it has become a common scene in rural areas as well. Rural people are also suffering from depression. The Jharkhand Rural Health Mission Society (JRHMS) is doing good work by spreading awareness across the rural areas but there are still many areas where people still need help,” she said.
She further added that to have good mental health, people should always open up in front of others and speak and should not keep anything inside themselves as it becomes one of the major reasons for people to suffer from bad mental health.
