Odisha: Help at hand to check prisoners’ mental health
The mental health experts, who have been brought from medical colleges and hospitals as well as the district headquarters hospitals, have been asked to visit the jails at least 3 or 4 days every month.
BHUBANESWAR: The state government has assigned 15 psychiatrists and 13 clinical psychologists to check for mental illness among inmates and treat them in jails across the state.
“In view of the challenges faced by the state towards the dearth of skilled mental health professionals, the government has deployed psychiatric specialists, senior residents and clinical psychologists to screen, counsel, treat and do follow-up mental health evaluation of prisoners suffering with mental illness,” read an order of the state health and family welfare department.
The mental health experts, who have been brought from medical colleges and hospitals as well as the district headquarters hospitals, have been asked to visit the jails at least 3 or 4 days every month.
Engagement of psychiatrists and psychologists assumes significance as the Covid pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the metal state of several inmates, whose trial and bail hearings were adversely affected during the unprecedented health crisis. Prison sources said anxiety and depression levels have peaked in many prisoners during Covid.
“We have been roping in yoga practitioners, motivational speakers and NGO counsellors to reduce the stress level of inmates. Recreation activities such as games and group activities are being conducted inside jails. Awareness programmes on mental wellness, mental illness, suicide prevention and substance use disorder are being done on regular basis,” DGP (prisons and correctional services) Santosh Kumar Upadhyay said.
The ministry of home affairs recently issued an advisory to all states and laid stress on steps to address mental illness of prisoners during Covid. The department of psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru was engaged by the Centre to prepare the advisory.
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