Srinagar: World’s highest impact medical journal, The Lancet, has published a paper from Kashmir – Reducing the mental health treatment gap in Kashmir: scaling up to maximise the potential of telepsychiatry. The paper highlights how barriers in seeking help for mental health are being addressed through helplines and remote services.
Prof Arshad Hussain, Department of Psychiatry GMC Srinagar is the lead author of the study published in the latest issue of The Lancet. The co-authors are Bhupinder Kumar, Manasi Kumar, and Fazle Roub. The study has elucidated the need for tele-psychiatry across states of India.
“The impetus towards scaling up mental health services was taken by the Finance Ministry of India that added budget for tele-MANAS in its Union Budget of 2022 for nation wise coverage of Tele-MANAS,”the authors write, adding that India had one of the largest user base of smart phones and this could help in augmenting the reach of tele-metal health services. “With an estimated 1.2 billion mobile phone users and 600 million smartphone users, NTMHP is expected to reach a large portion of patients, eventually reducing the colossal treatment gap,” it says.
In context of Jammu and Kashmir, it states that the region has faced political conflict and natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and including impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The area has a huge mental health burden that authorities have tried to address by increasing the number of trained mental health professionals, despite these efforts the gap remains largely unaddressed.” This, according to the authors, has promoted the authorities to start the Tele-MANAS centre in Kashmir.
“Mental health needs are being prioritised by introducing more professionals who can provide services in local Kashmiri and Urdu languages,” it says. Pertinently, the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), run by the Department of Psychiatry GMC Srinagar is the first one to start a suicide helpline in vernacular language, thus helping a number of people seek help for self harm ideation. “Since its launch on 4th November, 2022, the centre has received 4000 calls as people with mental illness from every district of the Union Territory are seeking professional help”.
While speaking about the publication of the paper in The Lancet, Prof Hussain said, it was his dream come true. “For any medical researcher, The Lancet is the dream. Not many are able to achieve this, I consider myself exceptionally lucky,” he said. Having received Fogarty Fellowship at St Louis Washington Med School , Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology Fellowship and many travel Bursaries Prof Arshad and his team, seniors and juniors, changed the face of mental health in Kashmir. “We turned a burnt asylum into Institute of Mental Health from the smallest department in GMC to one of the largest departments, it took some doing and always makes me feel accomplished, credit for this goes to every psychiatrist who worked there with zeal and enthusiasm I was just mere agent of change,” he said.
The Lancet is one of the oldest and world’s highest impact academic journal.