Bhubaneswar, June 19: Even as the stressful modern life triggered a variety of mental conditions requiring increased availability of psychiatrists, India was abysmally short of experts to take care of mental health, a renowned psychiatrist said on Saturday. “While the requirement of psychiatrists in the country was over 13,000, India had around 5,000 practitioners,” Prof. (Brig) M.S.V.K.Raju, President Elect of the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), said while addressing a seminar on “Emerging Trends and Future Directions” in psychiatry at the IMS and Sum Hospital. The seminar, part of continuing Medical Education (CME) program, was organized by the Odisha State Branch of IPS. Prof. Raju said around 350 psychiatrists were graduating every year but the number was too few considering the burgeoning requirement. Describing psychiatry as a difficult discipline where very little could be measured and the treatment was often made on the basis of inference, he said it was wrong to trivialize this vital discipline. Dr. Satyabrata Dash, President of the Odisha unit of IPS, said the field of psychiatry was opening up with psychiatrists needed by corporate houses and IT industry to take care of their workforce. Quoting a WHO survey report, he said 36 per cent of the Indian population were likely to be victims of depression at some point in their lives.
Among others, Prof. Gopal Chandra Kar and Prof. Tophan Pati, both eminent psychiatrists of the state, Dr. Samrat Kar, Secretary of Odisha unit of IPS, Prof. Gangadhar Sahu and Dr. Pushparaj Samantasinhar, Dean and Medical Superintendent respectively of IMS and Sum Hospital and Dr. Surjeet Sahu, Head of the department of Psychiatry at IMS and Sum Hospital addressed the seminar. Prof. Raju discussed the subject “Is unconscious dead in psychiatry?” while Prof. C.L.Narayan, professor at the A.N.M. Medical College, Gaya presented a paper on “Issues in relation to Indian Marriage Laws and Mental Health.” Prof. O.P.Singh, professor at the N.R.S. Medical College Hospital, Kolkata, spoke on “Issues in Management of Schizophrenia.”
