Times of India
30 July 2011
By,Umesh Isalkar
Pune, India

Experts To Take Decision After Examining Infrastructure
Yerawada Mental Hospital, Pune, and Government Medical College, Latur, have been shortlisted for starting post-graduate (PG) courses in mental health under the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) of the Union government.

Speaking to TOI on Friday, S B Nadoni, senior regional director, regional office for health and family welfare, Government of India, said, “We will soon inspect both the institutes to take stock and assess their existing infrastructure and resources to start the PG course.”

“It has been decided that teams of experts along with state regional directors will visit the institutes that have applied under the NMHP scheme. The team will assist in preparing proposals to be submitted as per the scheme,” Nadoni said. This decision was taken during a meeting on NMHP, held under the chairmanship of director general of health services, non-communicable diseases, GoI, on June 2, he added.

The scheme is expected to generate about 60 psychiatrists, 240 clinical psychologists, 240 psychiatry social workers and 600 psychiatry nurses per year in India.

The state government will have to make a firm commitment to take over the entire funding of the scheme after the 11th Five Year Plan period.

Nadoni said, “The objective is to provide an impetus to development of manpower in mental health. As part of the scheme, other training centres like government medical colleges, government general hospitals, state-run mental health institutes will also be supported for starting PG courses or increasing the intake capacity of PG training in mental health.”

The Union government’s support will involve establishing or improving departments in various specialties of mental health like psychiatry, clinical psychology, psychiatry nursing and purchase of equipment, tools and strengthening basic infrastructure like hostel, library, etc.

Support will also be provided for engaging faculty, for setting up / strengthening units of psychiatry, department of clinical psychology, department of psychiatrist social workers (PSW) and departments of psychiatry nursing with the support of up to Rs 51 lakh to Rs 1 crore per PG department.

Yerawada Mental Hospital is one of the four regional hospitals in Maharashtra. It is the largest mental hospital in the country in terms of patients-volume, area and bedstrength. It caters essentially to the entire western part of Maharashtra and the bordering areas of adjoining states.

Fighting The Shortfall

• There is shortage of manpower in mental institutes in the country. As against the estimated requirement of 11,500 psychiatrists, 17,250 clinical psychologists and 23,000 psychiatrist social workers and 3,000 psychiatry nurses, there are only 3,000 psychiatrists, 500 clinical psychologists, 400 psychiatrist social workers and 900 psychiatry nurses
• Union health minister Ghualam Nabi Azad recently said that under the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP), they have approved a total budget outlay of Rs 408 crore for the 11th Five Year Plan
• The Union government is setting up centres of excellence in the field of mental health and are also upgrading and identifying those that could be strengthened. For this, the government has earmarked Rs 30 crore for each of these mental institutes
• The state government institutes are also being supported to start post-graduates (PG) courses or being asked to increase its seats for PG courses under NMHP. For this, amounts varying between Rs 51 lakh and Rs 1 crore have been earmarked