SHILLONG, OCT 10: Meghalaya became the first state from the North East to come up with a State Mental Health and Social Care Policy, with an aim to promote overall mental health and wellbeing of its citizens.
The draft policy was announced by the Minister in-charge Health James K Sangma at a function organized on the occasion of World Mental Health Day.
“I am proud of the fact that Meghalaya is the first state from the North East and probably the third state in the country to have our own mental health policy, which will soon fructify after the cabinet gives its nod to it,” Sangma told reporters.
Referring to the policy as an extremely positive step taken by the health department, Sangma said the covid pandemic has made the government realize that mental health is becoming a huge concern which must be addressed at the earliest.
“We are very hopeful that this mental health and social care policy of our state will be able to address many of the issues relating to mental health and help to get rid of any kind of stigma that is attached to people having such problems. We hope that this will be a game changing exercise and will give us direction and focus on this important sector of health care,” he asserted.
The draft policy is being made available to the general public for their information and can be accessed in https://meghealth.gov.in/
Urging the people of the state to give their views and suggestions on the policy, Sangma said, “I would like to take this opportunity to urge the people of our state to go through this draft policy and to give their suggestions, their views, their comments whether they are in agreement or whether they are in disagreement, whatever the case may be we seek the views and comments of the public because they are biggest stakeholders in this whole exercise and I hope that people will go through draft mental and social care policy and come up with good suggestions which we would be able to incorporate into our policy.”
The draft mental health policy is a result of extensive research, situational analysis in the context of the State and focused group discussions conducted by key stakeholders involved in the drafting process. The draft policy has been put up in the public domain for the information of all, and also to find some key missing elements, if any, within the policy document.
The members of the civil society have been urged to send in their comments pertaining to the draft policy to healthdeptt502@gmail.com. These suggestions will then be reviewed before the formal launch of the final Mental Health and Social Care Policy for Meghalaya.
The minister further highlighted the salient features of the State Mental Health and Social Care Policy and urged the members of the civil society to give their feedback and recommendations on the draft policy. The Minister further informed that the Core committee and subcommittee were formed in order to guide the process of drafting the State Mental Health Policy to make it well-suited to tackle the issues that exist within our state.
‘’We partnered with several stakeholders and under the State Capability Enhancement framework, through a Problem Driven Iterative Adaptive (PDIA) Approach, we involved all the concerned departments and agencies as part of our collaborative proposition towards problem identification and solving,’’ he said.
Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Sampath Kumar, IAS termed the day as being significant for the State and added that the policy’s objective is to provide universal access to mental health care by enhancing understanding of mental health and strengthening leadership in the mental health domain at all levels.
Emphasizing on the significance of Mental Health Day, the Principal secretary said that it is an occasion for raising people’s awareness of mental illnesses and removing the false perceptions attached to them. He said that the policy is a holistic approach that aims to not only provide care, but also address the socio economic determinants affecting the mental health space, while creating enabling conditions to address and prevent challenges pertaining to mental health within the State.
He added that it is critical to address the stigma associated with mental health and therefore, through this policy, the intent is to build awareness and leadership at the community level through the involvement of the Village Health Councils (VHCs) as well as through all the 460 Sub Centers across the State, as they can be the 1st point for screening and identifying the issues of public health. Early diagnosis, screening and inclusive access to care will be the significant highlights of the State’s mental health policy.
The programme commenced with a welcome address by Dr S.S. Nongbri, DHS-Research. This was followed by a detailed presentation on mental health- issues, challenges and way forward by Dr A.K Roy, Specialist Psychiatry-Civil Hospital Shillong and Nodal Officer, National Mental Health Programme. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Y. A. Phira, Joint Director of Health Services (MI).
The event witnessed the participation of core committee members of the State Mental Health Committee including Principal Health Secretary, Sampath Kumar, IAS, R.M Kurbah,IAS, Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Joram Beda, IAS, Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department and Ramkumar, IAS, MD-NHM among other state officials.
By Our Reporter
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