BENGALURU: Postgraduate students from various departments of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) graduated from the institute at the 24th convocation ceremony held on Monday.
A total of 176 students received graduating certificates with doctoral degrees, post-doctoral fellowships, DM degrees, MPhil and MSc across departments. Fourteen students received awards from their respective departments too.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsha Vardhan, who is also the president of NIMHANS, with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa as vice president, handed over the certificates to the graduates.
“We are planning to open a NIMHANS unit at ESI Hospital in Kalaburagi. As we are facing overcrowding of patients who require trauma care, we are opening a comprehensive trauma care unit in North Bengaluru, in addition to providing post-graduate training. For this, we have acquired 30 acres of land from the state, and are awaiting 10 more. Human resources are less in terms of number of teachers, which is why need more medical colleges,” said Dr B N Gangadhar, director, NIMHANS.
Dr Harsh Vardhan announced that NIMHANS would lead other mental health hospitals in the country to set up and strengthen educational institutes.
“NIMHANS could be a mentor to other such institutes, for which we will need coordination by the state. By 2022, no patient should be deprived of mental healthcare in the country — that is our aim,” he said in his address to the students.
He released a book too, Yoga for Depression, which includes information on work carried out at NIMHANS at their integrated centre for Yoga.
Apart from agreeing to extend support in terms of land to NIMHANS, Chief Minister Yediyurappa said, “We understand the healthcare needs and are committed to opening medical colleges in Bagalkot, Chikkaballapur, Chikkamagalauru, Chitradurga, Haveri and Yadgir districts. With funding from the state, NIMHANS and IIIT-B are developing a mental health management software, which helps in implementation of the Mental Health Care Act of 2017.”
“The institute should take the lead in preparing a blueprint so that peripheral hospitals or clinics will be able to provide neurosurgical/neurological care to patients who have suffered head injuries. I will instruct the Medical Education Department to work with NIMHANS for this,” Yediyurappa added.