The District Mental Health Programme(DMHP) will soon be extended to all the 14 districts this year, making Kerala the first state in the country to have a decentralised mental health programme in all its districts.
The programme is aimed at providing mental health care at the community level through the district mental health clinics with outpatient and inpatient facilities. Medicines will be freely available at the clinic, in addition to the service of psychiatrists, psychologists and qualified social workers.
The identification and early detection of mental health patients in the community, keeping a record of the number of mentally ill, spreading mental health awareness etc., are some of the projects under the DMHP.
“The extension of the DMHP to all the 14 districts in the state will be done jointly by the NRHM under its Community Mental Health Programme and by the state government. All the districts will be the beneficiaries of the programme by end of 2012,” director of health services, Dr P K Jameela, told Express.
As of now, eight districts in the state, Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Idukki, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram, are under the DMHP programme.
It will now be extended to Ernakulam, Palakkad, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Kollam. The NRHM will fund the implementation of the programme in Ernakulam, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam.
The programme will be funded by the state government in the other districts. The extension of the DMHP programme has been a constant demand of the Health Department owing to the state’s burden on mental health.
The total cost of the project is Rs 2.37 crore, with Rs 39. 5 lakh per district.
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