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mental health

Suicide of former Maharashtra ATS chief highlight lack of mental healthcare

The former Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief and Additional Director General of Police in Maharashtra committed suicide on May 11. Himanshu Roy had been fighting cancer since 2000. Some have speculated that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may have played a rolein his death. This high profile incident has spotlighted lacking mental healthcare within India, …

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A suicide crisis among Indian students

On April 19, seventeen-year-old Kadali Shanmukha was found dead.  The previous day, Bheem Singh had also been found dead.  What links the two deaths is that both were suicides and that Shanmukha and Singh were both students. Shanmukha, aged just seventeen, was a senior intermediate student at the Bhashyam Junior College in Kakinada. Singh was …

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President warns of mental health epidemic

President Ram Nath Kovind warns of a potential “mental health epidemic” in India, spotlighting an issue of great concern to public health. Mental health issues are often stigmatised in India, leading to many not seeking help. President Kovind stressed the need to increase access to mental health treatment facilities during a speech at the 22nd …

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Mental healthcare only reaches ten percent of those who need it

Up to ninety percent of Indians suffering with mental health issues do not receive any kind of healthcare for the condition, says President Ram Nath Kovind. Without any kind of intervention for this, he believes India will be subject to a mental health epidemic in years to come. This comment comes amidst growing numbers of …

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Are farmers committing suicide over climate change?

Are climate change and suicides linked? A recent study published in the journal PNAS suggests so, drawing a correlation between increasing temperatures and suicides in India. In the words of Dr. Vikram Patel, an influential Indian psychiatrist and mental health expert with Harvard Medical School, “farming is an inherently risky occupation, with annual incomes often …

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Mental healthcare bill passed through Parliament

The mental health care bill proposed in 2016 has been passed through parliament. The bill has a number of key aims. Foremost amongst these are the decriminalisation of suicide and the provision of free government provided mental health care for the homeless and poor. The bill will be “patient centric” and to “compel the state …

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Prohibition: An ineffective policy?

Gujarat’s long-standing policy of alcohol prohibition has taken a knock from the state’s high court. Yet even as justices call prohibition’s effectiveness into question, chief ministers of other states are not being deterred from pursuing similar policies. Dry states India’s constitution says “the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption…of intoxicating drinks …

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Mental health care’s gender disparity

A recent BBC report highlights the gender disparity in mental healthcare. It is revealed that women in mental health wards are far more likely to be abandoned by their family following the diagnosis of a mental illness. This comes in the wake of a World Health Organization study indicating that around 7.5 percent of Indians suffer from …

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Start-ups: the future of mental healthcare in India?

Digital technology start-ups have the potential to transform healthcare in India for the better. At least one entrepreneur, prompted by the suicide of her hostel mate, is trying to harness that energy to improve the country’s mental health. Several companies have already been successful in bringing so-called ‘digital health’ to the country, utilising features such …

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Rape in India and the shame of a nation

A 23-year-old woman – dubbed ‘Nirbayha’ by the press – was beaten and raped onboard a bus in New Delhi by a gang of men. The attack left her in critical condition, and Nirbhaya succumbed to her injuries in hospital two weeks later. The incident made international headlines, highlighting what The Independent called a rape …

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