The Hindu : Mental Health Centre bid for centre of excellence status

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Mental Health Centre bid for centre of excellence status

By M. Dinesh Varma

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM April 14. The State-run Mental Health Centre in Peroorkada aims to start a three-year course in psychiatry as part of a phased bid to achieve the status of a centre of excellence.

A delegate designated by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, is expected to visit the institution on April 29 to inspect the infrastructure capabilities as well as other stipulated criteria, prior to granting permission to launch the teaching programme.

The Mental Health Centre has already been accorded administrative sanction from the State Government for the proposal and will be seeking allotment of at least four seats for the psychiatry course under the Diplomate of National Board (Dip. N.B.), sources said.

The Health Minister, P. Sankaran, had recently unveiled a Rs. 1.50 crore masterplan for the overall development of the institution.

The 500-bedded hospital, is amongst the largest mental health centres in South India. The push to upgrade the institution as a centre of excellence is aimed at providing it the status of an apex teaching centre in South India.

Unlike the Medical colleges which are periodically supervised by the Medical Council of India, the Mental Health Centre is directly accountable to the Board of Examinations set up under the Union Government. The institution is also partnering a Rs. 5 lakh suicide prevention project announced in the budget for the fiscal year.

The Mental Health Centre had recently commissioned a new block for clinical psychologists and a fully equipped library. The lack of separate space for the two clinical psychologists had been not only hampering proper psychiatric management but was compromising on the privacy of the patients as well, sources say.

The Hospital Superintendent, Jayaram told The Hindu that a project for launching a course in psychiatry nursing was on the anvil. The institution would have to seek sanction from the Nursing Council to start the course, he added.

Shortage of nursing staff and trained psychiatric social workers at the institution has been a major handicap for the institution with such a large intake of patients. The team of nine psychiatrists, two clinical psychologists and three psychiatric social workers, are hardly adequate for efficient patient management, it is pointed out.

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