Karnataka has taken this initiative, ‘a first of its kind in the country, undertaken by the NIMHANS in association with NITI Aayog in the state. In this programme, doctors will be trained in treating mental health patients.
K.Sudhakar said, “Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, our government has been helping people to cope with mental health issues in association with NIMHANS. We have conducted thousands of mental health counseling sessions with covid infected persons and their family members. Since mental health has a bearing on the physical health and overall wellness of the individual we need to ensure that everyone is aware of mental health issues and NIMHANS is doing a very good job in taking mental health care to the people. Under this health initiative, even general physicians will be trained on mental healthcare.”
He said, Screening of newborn babies for mental health issues is also needed, this will have an impact on their day-to-day lives and the quality of more doctors trained in mental health care. The programme organizers should focus on implementation and deliver good results so that the programme can get more allocation in the future, he added.
Other than Bangalore, the covid positivity rate has been less in other districts, which indicates that the severity of infection is not as high as it was during the second wave, people are recovering within 5-6 days, so there is no need to panic.
Sudhakar said, “We have covered 100% in the first dose and 84% in the second dose which has contributed a lot in reducing severity and hospitalization, our health department is coming up with a vision document. The vision document lays down a comprehensive roadmap for an overhaul of public health care at all three levels, primary, secondary, and tertiary. There are about 30 senior experts who are working on this report and about 750 experts have contributed to this over the last year. CM Basavaraj Bommai will complete six months in office on January 28th and CM will release the vision document on this occasion.
“We are in an unprecedented situation where we have categorized the entire economy into pre-covid and post-covid periods. I am confident that both Union and State Budgets will be people friendly and will provide the necessary stimulus for overall development,” He added.
