The Karnataka State Mental Health Task Force (KSMHTF) is in talks with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding its proposal to introduce ‘Special Tuesday’.
The initiative aims to provide free day-long mental healthcare services in district, taluk hospitals and primary health centres (PHCs) in the State every Tuesday.
KSMHTF chairman K.A. Ashok Pai told presspersons here on Saturday that he had discussed the proposal with Health Minister U.T. Khader, and added that he was planning to meet the Principal Secretary (Health). A meeting will be convened on September 6 in Udupi to talk about the proposal.
Dr. Pai said all district hospitals were equipped with psychiatrists. Around 140 psychiatrists were engaged in private practice across the State. “If psychiatrists in private practice join hands with us and support the initiative, we can reach out to needy patients,” he said.
Udupi is hosting a conference of psychiatrists on September 6 and 7.
Dr. Pai also spoke about a proposal to launch mental healthcare service in private partnership, following scarcity of beds in government hospitals for running residential care programme for psychiatric rehabilitation.
Institutions or NGOs having experience of running rehabilitation centres for patients suffering from mental illnesses can operate 20 to 40-bed residential care programmes. The government would provide Rs. 1,000 per patient a month (about Rs 1.60 lakh a month) besides providing Rs. 20,000 towards building rent, Dr. Pai explained.
He said institutions were facing problems in ferrying patients to day-care centres for treatment. Therefore, they were given the option of running the programme on their own.
The task force envisions Karnataka as a ‘model mental health State’. However, the gap between demand for and supply of mental healthcare needs in the State has widened because of scarcity of trained professionals.
The question arises on how to make Karnataka a model State with limited number of experts and specialists in psychiatric care. The task force has, therefore, proposed various programmes for the treatment and rehabilitation of persons with mental disabilities, Dr. Pai said.
