NIMHANS should take up nationwide programme to tackle suicides: Rajnath Singh

BENGALURU:  “Increasing suicides in the country has shocked me,” said Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday, urging the country’s prestigious National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) to develop a nationwide programme to prevent suicides and undertake a systematic intervention in order to help people. 

Delivering the address at the 23rd convocation of NIMHANS, the minister also sought the assistance of experts at the institution to help armed police forces de-stress in the wake of suicides across the country. “Our central armed police forces need services which can help them de-stress. NIMHANS has the capacity to take up the initiative nationwide,” he said, while adding that he was appreciative of the institute for working with the Tamil Nadu police department to promote wellness of the police personnel.

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and president of NIMHANS, J P Nadda, said, “NIMHANS will play a major role in responding to the challenges in mental health care and to achieve this mission successfully, the institute will have to nurture other similar institutions in the country and in the state as well.” 

Lauding the achievements of the union government in the last five years, Nadda said: “Since 2014-15, the number of UG and PG seats have increased by 18,000 and 13,000, respectively, with the total at 70,000 and 45,000. As many as 118 new medical colleges have been added to the list of medical colleges in the last five years, raising the total number to 499, which is the highest in the world.” 

Anandhi B, graduated in Psychiatric Social Work Physical disability or poverty did not deter this 29-year-old daughter of an electrician at a village in Madurai. It was a proud moment for her father Jyothi Balan, when he saw Anandhi B, who has a locomotor disability and cannot walk without a crutch, receive the graduation certificate from the union home minister.