District Mental Health Program of India I DMHP 1984 I

District Mental health Programme (Under the National Mental Health Programme 1996–97) was successfully developed by National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore in the Bellary district of Karnataka, and it is conceived as a model and adopted by all States for implementation.

The major components of District Mental Health Programme as adopted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are:-

1. Training programme for all workers in the mental health team at the identified Nodal Institute in the State.

2. Public education in the mental health to increase awareness and reduce stigma.

3. For early detection and treatment, the OPD and indoor services are provided.

4. Providing valuable data and experience at the level of community to the State and Centre for future planning, improvement in service and research.

5. To provide sustainable basic mental health services to the community and to integrate these services with other health services;

6. To ensure that patients and their relatives do not have to travel long distances to go to hospitals or nursing home in cities;

7. To take the pressure off from mental hospitals;

8. To reduce the stigma attached towards mental illness through change of attitude and public education; and

9. To treat and rehabilitate mental patients discharged from the mental hospital within the community.

Key Features of DMHP

1. The States will set in motion the process of finding suitable personnel for manning the DMHP teams. They can take in service candidates who are willing to serve in this pilot project and provide them the necessary training in the identified institution.

2. The patients will be from the district itself and the adjoining areas.

3. District Mental Health Team will be expected to provide service to the needy mentally ill patients and their families, such as—daily out-patient service, ten bedded in-service facilities, referral service and liaison with the primary health centres, follow up service, awareness programmes, and also community survey if feasible

The DMHP also has its share of criticism across the verticals of prestigious mental health institutions in the country. The national strategy of integrating mental health with existing primary care services addresses both the scant resources and the challenges of serving a large and diverse country. While there is no disputing that the country’s mental health programmes were initiated
with bold and well-meaning objectives, numerous problems continue to thwart implementation of these programmes. Several of the logistical and administrative difficulties have been detailed in public health and psychiatric publications. Significantly, however, a historical and cultural analysis of the major forces that have shaped the discipline is conspicuously absent in the published literature

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