New Delhi: The government has decided to set up National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIMHR) near Bhopal with an outlay of Rs 179.54 crore in the first three years to provide rehabilitation services to people with mental illness and to frame policy in mental health rehabilitation.
Highlighting the objectives of the NIMHR, the Joint Secretary of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities under Social welfare ministry Prabodh Seth said, “NIMHR aimed at providing rehabilitation services to people with mental illness, capacity development in the area of mental health rehabilitation, policy-framing and advanced research in mental health rehabilitation.”
Speaking at the conference on ‘Re-thinking Mental Health’ organised by FICCI Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence, Seth added, “We are thinking of developing in-service training programs for persons employed in government organizations who can get effective training and be effective in providing basic rehabilitation services.”
Meanwhile, the director of the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Nimesh Desai said, “Mental health is nowhere near the central agenda of the society. It is still a storm in a teacup. Scientific figures from the National Institute of Health put that rate at 49%.”
The conference which was attended by senior doctors and the health department members such as Dr Achal Bhagat, Dr Ambrish Dharmadhikari, Mr Rajvi Mariwala and others, included panel discussions on subjects such as ‘Taking Mental Health to the General Public’, ‘Addressing Stigma and Community Participation in Mental Healthcare’, ‘Telling Our Stories: Lived Experience and the Importance of Ethical Reporting’, ‘Access to Mental Health Support at the Workplace: Offline and Online Professional Support’ and ‘It’s Alright Not To Feel okay: Young and Adolescents’.
