Maharashtra Medical Students to Study Courses on Mental Illness

Mental Hospitals of Pune, Thane and Nagpur region in Maharashtra are to be converted into centres of excellence as the proposal has been approved by the cabinet. Now, the hospital experts would be designing a curriculum to train Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical students in the area of management in mental illness.

The proposal was raised to the government in accordance with the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) which concerns the lack of manpower in the psychiatry department of hospitals. Currently, hospitals of India lack various departments like - Psychiatric Nursing, Clinical Psychology, Psychiatric Social Work, Paediatric & Geriatric Wards, Etc and there is a serious need to upgrade the medical systems of the mental hospitals to maintain a global reputation.

Director of Health Servies, Dr Sadhana said that officials have decided to start Psychiatry, Psychiatry Social Work and Clinical Psychology courses for medical students. Keeping the dearth of psychiatrists in these hospitals in mind, the Post Graduate Diploma Courses will start this year.

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Firstly, mental hospitals will be introducing a Psychiatry wing or modernise the previous ones according to the latest trends and technologies and also by the NMHP norms. Setting up of new departments and revamping the existing structures would enhance the PG training provided by these hospitals resulting in the accomplishment of NMHP objectives.

Trained students will further be dealing with spreading awareness of the mental illness, helping patients affected by mental illness and take samples for further research and development in the field of mental illness.

The PG courses on management of Mental Illness will be offered to graduating MBBS students at the hospitals. To begin with, experts of mental hospitals will be teaching the PG courses along with professors and trainers of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences, Banglore as visiting faculty. Slowly, the hospitals will hire experts in the field for the job.

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Considering the condition of Mental Health in India, this initiative of the Maharashtra Government is to set new trends for hospitals and medical centres in India. Also, students graduating this year can apply for upcoming courses at mental hospitals. For more updates, check CollegeDekho.