Karnataka government set to increase its focus on treating depression related illness in the state and insists that every government hospital including primary health centres should have a dedicated department of psychiatry. It has also unveiled the pilot version of e: initiative for mental health.

In addition both the central and state governments roped in Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone who leads The Live Love Laugh Love Foundation (TLLL) to stall the stigma around depression in society.

India accounts for 6 crore depression cases and only 6,500 psychiatrists to handle the condition.

“While the state is well ahead in the area of psychiatry care with the presence of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) apart from other private centres of mental and neuropsychiatry care, yet there is a need for separate departments attached to each of the government medical centers,” said Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, principal secretary, Karnataka department of health and family welfare.

The state was roped in for a regional consultation, organized by the WHO Country Office for India, in collaboration with NIMHANS and the Karnataka, DHFW to provide greater attention to mental health issues, especially depression.

Dr Rathan U Kelkar, Mission Director, National Health Mission, government of Karnataka spoke about the integration of mental health programme in PHCs in Karnataka. The state has trained its medical and para-medical staff for the support and treatment of depression and made the required medication available at all levels from PHCs to district hospitals.

Dr. BN Gangadhar, director, NIMHANS said that depression is a public health priority and the need to remove stigma is a vital component of recovery. The stigma remains a barrier to people seeking help throughout the world.

According to Ashish Satapathy, Regional Team Leader, South India, World Health Organisation, the depression is the single largest cause of morbidity globally. The first step towards treatment and recovery is often talking to a person. Therefore it should be a national and state focus towards this disease when every one in 20 persons is reported to have depression. India’s Mental Health Bill will create an enabling environment to discuss the treat the condition.

Further, in India depression has taken a national platform with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat address spoke on how to prevent and manage depression, and the path-breaking Mental Health Bill, which decriminalizes attempt to suicide and has a rights-based approach.

The panel of medical experts led by Prof Gangadhar and Dr Kelkar, deliberated on different facets of depression and highlight areas that need urgent attention. These included the need for psycho social assessment to be integrated into NRHM.

At a technical deliberation moderated by Dr Prabha Chandra, Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS along with Dr Jagdish from Abhay Hospital, Bengaluru had hospital heads including Dr K.B. Lingegowda, Director, Kidwai Institute of Oncology; Dr Rajendra P Joshi, Central Government Health Services; Dr Shashidhar Buggi, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases; Dr Latha Venkataram, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician, Rangadore Memorial Hospital; Dr Thummala Kamala, Consultant in Diabetes, Jnana Sanjeevini Medical Centre; Dr Shivarama Varambally, Dr Priya Treesa Thomas, Dr Jagdish T, Dr Paulomi Sudhir and Dr John Vijay Sagar from NIMHANS highlighted that general practitioners could handle mild to moderate signs of depression and there is a need to develop simple scale algorithms to recognize depression, they said.