Mumbai: Two years on, the Maharashtra University of Health Science (MUHS) notification to start annual mental health check up for all the resident doctors has remained on paper. Post the death of Dr Payal Tadvi, the issue of absence of professional psychologists to address stress, anxiety and work related pressure of the resident doctors has yet again come forth.
The members of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) said they have urged the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) to start counselling for faculty members, considering the apathy of the head of department and head of unit in the case of Dr Tadvi.
Dr Kalyani Dongre, current MARD president said, “With an immediate effect, we need to start counselling sessions for the resident doctors as they are undergoing lots of pressure due to which they take the extreme step of ending their life. We are working on starting a comprehensive counselling and sensitization program every six months. We have also proposed that every hospital should have a post of clinical psychologists to address the mental health issues. We will send a proposal to the authorities soon.”
Dr Sagar Mundada, MD, Psychiatry and former president of Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors said, they had demanded the resolution after resident doctors from JJ Hospital were caught drinking and driving in October 2015. “Long working hours, staying away from home and relatives, academic pressure along with financial strains were found to affect the mental and physical health of the resident doctors. Unfortunately, the check-ups never materialized,” added Dr Mundada.
In May 2016, the MUHS had released a notification, as per which every resident doctor was supposed to undergo a compulsory psychological analysis at the start of their first year. A routine mental health check-up certificate was planned on annual basis after which the hospital was to certify the resident doctor fit to perform their duties.
In a study conducted in 2007 on medical students at Nair hospital revealed that 51.37 per cent of the surveyed medical students suffered from stress while 66.05 per cent were diagnosed with anxiety and 39.44 per cent had depression. This study was published in The Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy (Vol. XXXIX : No. 1). Considering the inability of head of gynaecology department and unit in the case of Dr Tadvi, where both of them allegedly failed to address the complaints of her harassment, the doctors are also demanding a sensitization program for the senior faculty members.
“We not only have to check mental health status of the resident doctors but also the teaching staff. In the case of Dr Payal Tadvi, if it’s proved that the head of unit and head of department have failed to take action despite receiving complaints, they are equally or more responsible than the three senior resident doctors accused of first hand harassment,” said Dr Deepak Mundhe, General Secretary, MARD.
Dr Dilip Mhaiskar, Vice Chancellor, MUHS, said they were not aware that the check-ups are not taking place frequently and soon they will call for a state wide report of how many colleges are following the notification. “We are planning to introduce a fresh system where every student, will undergo a complete mental health analysis upon joining.Every patient’s individual report file will be maintained for all three years of residency. Annually, they will undergo check-ups and the file will be updated, so the counsellors will be able to monitor their progress and past history,” said Dr Mhaiskar.