SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, May 18: The Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) is set to bring in a set of cutting-edge technologies for the first time not only in Jharkhand but in India under one roof. Notably, CIP celebrated its 105th foundation day on Tuesday at its premises and made plans for the upcoming year on the occasion.
Elaborating on the plans of the institute for the future, Director Prof Dr Basudeb Das said, “We have already set up a Neuro Plasticity Lab. It has four kinds of facilities under one roof, which include EEG (electroencephalography), Bio-Feedback, F-NIRS (Functional near-infrared spectroscopy), and HD-tDCS (High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation). This is the first time that such a setup will be available under one roof at a patient’s convenience.”
He continued explaining, “EEG helps measure the electrical waves of the brain, Biofeedback helps check types of waves in cases of anxiety and other issues, F-NIRS measures oxygen levels in different parts of the brain, and HD-tDCS helps throw small currents to specific areas of the brain to treat cases of depression, anxiety and hallucination among others.”
Dr Das further explained that a demo run has been done for the device after recently being set up at the institute. Patients will shortly be recruited for research purposes, however, the routine clinical use of the device will begin within the next couple of years.
“In the case of academics, there has been an increase in the number of seats in almost all our courses, because of the implementation of 10 percent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). The number of seats has increased from 27 to 34 in the course of Indian Psychiatry. Similarly, PhD in Chemical Psychology has four seats, while MPhil in Chemical Psychology saw an increase in seats from 16 to 21,” the director said.
He further informed that the number of seats in MPhil in Psychiatric Social work has increased to 12 from 15, while Diploma in Psychiatric Nursing has increased to 23 from 15.
The director of CIP, while talking about the research done in the previous two years of the pandemic, said that the institute has had a lot of success as the patient footfall was comparatively very less due to the pandemic. As a result, his doctors and researchers were able to focus on their research.
“Our usual annual data of publications and presentations would be 100, while last year it was 136, which broke a record in CIP’s history. We have also started special clinics last year,” Dr Das added.
Stating that CIP originally had 13 special clinics, he said they would treat specific issues like chronic schizophrenia, mood disorder and addictions in OPD. He further added that seven more additional special clinics were started including that for behavioural addiction, after cases of mobile addiction increased after the pandemic. He also talked of post-Covid clinics that will help people deal with anxiety, stress and depression triggered due to Covid 19.
Furthermore, Dr Das stated that the institute has several MoUs with different institutions for collaborative work, and plans to organise several awareness programmes in places like the Dr Shayama Prasad Mukherjee University and Amity University among others.
Talking of steps taken for mental health awareness by the institute, he said, “We organise counselling sessions for both teachers and students on regular intervals in schools around us, along with police personnel and FICCI.”
