Bengaluru: Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone made a passionate plea for lending support to those suffering from depression, at the State Health and Family Welfare department's programme for World Health Day held here on Saturday. This year’s theme is ‘Depression: Let’s Talk’.
"Depression can strike anyone irrespective of age or economic background. Having experienced it myself, I know what a debilitating condition it can be," said Ms. Padukone. “People with depression are made to feel isolated, instead of feeling love and affection from those around them.”
Ms. Padukone said the Live Love Laugh Foundation (LLLF)--which has tied up the State Health and Family Welfare department--had, since its inception, funded several organisations in rural and urban areas working for mental health. “Let us together stamp out the stigma and banish the shame,” she said.
Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar cited the example of paralympic athletes like Deepa Malik and the Indian blind cricket team which brought home the World Cup to show what confidence and strength of mind could do. "We should instil courage and confidence in someone we know who has slipped into depression," he said.
State Health Minister Ramesh Kumar said that governments, both at State and Centre, had failed in creating a conducive environment for citizens to prosper. "Our education policy, the practice of ostentatious marriages - they all point to one rule for law abiding citizens and another for those who acquire wealth through wrong means. Suppose a manual scavenger wants to make his son an IAS officer, will he be able to rise out of his circumstances to do so?" he asked. As a result many lose hope and fall into depression, he felt.
According to Minister for Medical Education Sharanprakash Patil, everyone had a role to play. “ Professional services are available to many today, but the stigma associated prevents people from approaching for help,” he said.
Rathan U. Kelkar, State Mission Director, National Health Mission, spoke about the integration of mental health programmes in primary health care in Karnataka. “We have trained our medical and para-medical staff and made medications available in district hospitals and Primary Health Centres,” said Dr. Kelkar.
Posters on mental awareness created as part of a tie up between the State Health and Family Welfare Department and LLLF were released on the occasion, as well as training materials on life skills and combating depression brought out by the State department.
