BENGALURU: With a view to keep a tab on the mental health of medical students in 25 government medical colleges in the state, the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences is planning to launch wellness clinics and provide the students with health cards.
“We have asked each government medical college to identify a psychiatrist, psychologist and coordinator from community medicine to be part of the wellness centre in their campuses,” said RGUHS Vice-Chancellor Dr Bhagavan BC.
“All students will be counselled and issued health cards marking the date of their visitats to the wellness centre. Our focus is on counselling and providing psychological support to the medical students in various disciplines.
This is required because these students stay away from their homes for a long time, and there are chances of them slipping into depression because of extreme academic pressure and relationship failures. While some can overcome the situation, others get into substance abuse as a coping mechanism,” he said.
Citing incidentes of students committing suicide, Bhagvan said, “We do not want such incidents to repeat, which is another reason for launching the wellness centres in the medical colleges.”