Indian Medical Association to Set Up Counselling Centres in Medical Colleges

The Indian Medical Association- IMA is planning to set up counselling centres and 24x7 helpline in the medical colleges of India. IMA will set up the centres in medical colleges and teaching institutions across the country to help students deal with mental health issues. Last year, a survey was conducted by WHO which revealed that India is the most depressed country in the world.

Mental health issues have been ignored as a serious issue since ages. Therefore, to cope up with the same the initiative has been taken up by IMA. The move was taken into account when Doctor Payal Tadvi, a 26-year old medical student committed suicide after facing harassment by one of the seniors at a state-run hospital in Mumbai.

IMA has come up with an initiative Doctors 4 Doctors (D4D) which aims to address mental health issue and reduce the stress among medical students, residents and clinicians. Santanu Sen, IMA National President informed that Mental Health issue is a common problem among the students and by creating awareness we could fight this problem and help the students. The initiative will provide training for self-help and D4D will provide Free Help Lines to the students.

According to the reports, the risk of suffering from mental health issue is 2.5 times higher among medical students and doctors between the age group of 24 to 37 years. This age group is the most vulnerable when it comes to mental health issues.

Also Read: Medical Council of India and its Role in Medical Education

Through the counselling centres medical students, residents, doctors and clinicians will get a sustainable support system to help them build their emotional wellbeing and to robust resilience. IMA's D4D initiative has already organised many self-help workshops for medical students on emotional well being in Surat, Pune, Delhi, Cochin and Bengaluru. Soon it will organise it in Mumbai and other cities of the country.