Chandigarh, January 27:
To provide quality Mental Healthcare services in Government Hospitals, the training programme held by Punjab Government for Medical officers and Counselors working in de-addiction centres & OOAT Clinics which is devised by a team comprising of experts Dr. N. Manjunatha, associate professor & consultant telemedicine Dr. Suresh Bada Math, Dr. Naveen C Kumar and Dr. Pratima Murthy from National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore.
Disclosing this here today Health & Family Welfare Minister Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu said that online training for Medical officers working in various health facilities in Punjab has been started so as to further strengthening the Mental Health as well as De-Addiction Programme. He said that Dr. N. Manjunatha, Associate Professor and Consultant Telemedicine Centre NIMHANS, Bangalore gave a detailed presentation on how to screen patients with mental ailments and treat them at primary health care facilities.
More than 100 Medical Officers attended this training and it will help in screening of the patients suffering from mental ailments. The patients who can be treated at Primary Care Level will be treated as per the protocol developed by the experts from NIMHANS and those patients who require services of psychiatrists, they will be referred for treatment at hospitals of secondary level, he said
The Minister pointed out that Covid-19 has impacted the mental health of millions of people as the levels of anxiety, fear, isolation, social distancing and restrictions in addition to uncertainty and emotional distress has become widespread. To deal with such problems 24 × 7 toll-free medical facilities have been provided through helpline 104. Besides this, counseling of the patients have been conducted in isolation ward and also those in-home quarantine by Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Medical officers. Tele Monitoring Agency was also hired for the same purpose.
He further stated that to provide treatment and care to the patients of drug abuse during the lockdown, Punjab Government had taken prompt initiatives such as take-home dose program from 199 OOAT Clinics and 35 Govt. De-addiction centres.
Mr. Sidhu said that this programme witnessed overwhelming response across the State and more than 2 lac patients were registered themselves on the State de-addiction web portal for the treatment. Apart from these centres, the de-addiction services are also being provided to jail inmates in 10 Central Jails. 137 Private De-addiction Centres have also been authorized in state for treatment of drug of abuse patients.
Till now more than 6.15 lac patients have been registered for treatment.
