Date:21/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/21/stories/2008072157560200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Dial 100 Project to be replicated in Mumbai, Kolkata

Staff Reporter

The model will be modified to suit local conditions

CHENNAI: The Dial 100 Project of The Banyan, a non-governmental organisation that works with Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Kilpauk, and police to rescue mentally ill persons will soon be replicated in Mumbai and Kolkata.

A press release here said that the model would be modified to suit local conditions. Koshish and the Centre of Health and Mental Health of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, and Ishwar Sankalp in Kolkata, have come forward to replicate the model in the respective cities.

Two-day workshop

This decision was taken at a two-day national workshop on `Dial 100 – public private partnership’ organised from Friday by The Banyan at the IMH.

The workshop was supported by the Rangoonwala Foundation (India) and the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.

A national collective for advocacy in mental health with a three point agenda was also formed after the deliberations.

Nationwide campaign

The collective would work to build a nationwide campaign that would include lobbying against inaccurate and insensitive portrayals, commentaries and news items on the lives of people with mental illness.

Issues such as standards of care in mental health institutions, the need for an audit system in mental healthcare and the growing problem of access to care despite the existence of the District Mental Health Programme, were also discussed, the release said.