Tag: suggests

Lancet Paper Suggests Scaling Up Tele-psychiatry to Bridge Kashmir’s Mental Health Burden

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by Khalid Bashir Gura
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has a huge mental health burden according to mental health experts. The authorities have tried to address and reduce the mental health treatment gap by increasing the number of trained mental health professionals and exploring the potential of telepsychiatry, a new study reveals.
This is the core team that literally rebuilt the Government Psychiatric Diseases Hospital Srinagar which is now known as IMHANS.
The paper titled Reducing the mental health treatment gap in Kashmir: scaling up to maximise the potential of telepsychiatry published in the latest issue of The Lancet, authored by Arshad Hussain and others suggests scaling up telepsychiatry especially in Jammu and Kashmir to fill the gap.
To tackle mental health morbidity, the study suggests scaling up telepsychiatry.
“It is especially relevant in regions such as Jammu and Kashmir that have faced political conflict and natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and including impacts from the ongoing Covid19 pandemic,” the study reveals.
A professor and psychiatrist at IMHANS, Hussain writes in the paper that policymakers have also initiated the Tele MANAS centre in Kashmir, where mental health needs are being prioritised by introducing more professionals who can provide services in local Kashmiri and Urdu languages.
The other co-authors of the April 26, 2023 research include Bhupinder Kumar, Manasi Kumar, and Fazle Roub.
Dr Arshad Hussain (Psychiatry)
A nationwide initiative, the provision of free round-the-clock telepsychiatry services via Tele-Mental Health Assistance and Nationally Actionable Plan through States (Tele-MANAS) and a mobile app called MANAS Mitra, has been successful.

“Since its launch on 4th November 2022, the centre has received 4000 calls as people with mental illness from every district of the Union Territory are seeking professional help,” the paper reveals.
According to the study, these numbers convey the enormous demand and needs but also show that TELE Manas is acceptable to people and they are initiating contact with mental health providers.
“Every Tele MANAS centre would have the facility of trained psychiatrists and counsellors who would refer the patients in acute psychological distress to locally available Government runs mental health centres in case the need arises so,” according to the study.
“The current step is expected to ensure cost-and-time-effective and comprehensive services for the poorly served population of the region, strengthening mental health, an area that has been historically neglected in Jammu and Kashmir,” according to the study.
Mental health across the country remains a major concern because of myriad of challenges such as poor awareness of mental illness, stigma, high treatment gap and shortage of mental health professionals to manage widely prevalent mental illnesses.
The National Mental Health Survey of India reported that the point prevalence of any mental illness was 10.6 per cent while 5.1 per cent of the adult population was estimated to have some level of suicidality.
“Between 2012 and 2030, mental illnesses would cost India 1.03 trillion US dollars. The scenario is complicated by a very high treatment gap of 83 per cent along with only 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 population, even though the WHO desires at least three psychiatrists per 100,000 population,” the study predicts.
Similar efforts are made by WHO special initiative for mental health (2019–2023) which is targeting Bangladesh, Jordan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe, the study reveals.
On the flip side, the paper’s lead author, a senior psychiatrist, has celebrated the publication of his paper in the prestigious Lancet. Though more than 100 of his papers have been published on different aspects of the mess he and his team have been tackling, this is the first that Lancet published.
“When I joined Psychiatry Lancet seemed stones through, I was on the path to full fill my dream, I got a Fogarty Fellowship at St Louis Washington Med School, Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology Fellowship and many travel Bursaries based on my research ideas, but destiny had other plans,” Arshad wrote on his Facebook. “I was challenged with changing the face of psychiatry in Kashmir with my colleagues and teachers we turned a burnt asylum into the Institute of Mental Health from the smallest department in GMC to one of the largest departments, it took some doing and always makes me feel accomplished, credit for this goes to every psychiatrist who worked there with zeal and enthusiasm.”
He added: “I did publish 100 odd papers but that never gave me a thrill because I never saw my name in Lancet. But today it happened even though nothing great, but the child within me is excited.”

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#Lancet #Paper #Suggests #Scaling #Telepsychiatry #Bridge #Kashmirs #Mental #Health #Burden
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 30, 2023
Dalai Lama incident: Congress MLA suggests Chinese hand

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Shimla: Amid a controversy over a video clip purportedly showing the Dalai Lama asking a boy to “suck” his tongue, Himachal Pradesh Congress MLA Ravi Thakur on Saturday suggested the hand of China in it to defame the Tibetan spiritual head.
Thakur, the MLA from the Lahaul and Spiti district, also expressed solidarity with the Buddhist community protesting against what they called a “malicious propaganda” against the Dalai Lama.
Speaking to reporters, the MLA said the Dalai Lama is a respected Buddhist leader and removing him from the scene would help China to take full control over Tibet.

He also blamed television news channels for exploiting the “unfortunate” incident to garner viewership.
On April 10 last, the Dalai Lama apologised to a boy, his family and friends for the “hurt his words may have caused”, after a video clip purportedly showing the Tibetan spiritual head asking him to suck his tongue sparked a row.
In the two-minute-five-second video, the Dalai Lama also asked the child “to look at those good human beings who create peace, and happiness and not follow those who kill other people”.
In a statement, the Tibetan spiritual head’s office said, “A video clip has been circulating that shows a recent meeting when a young boy asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama if he could give him a hug. His Holiness wishes to apologise to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused.”
Meanwhile, several social and religious organisations issued a joint statement on Saturday saying that Dalia Lama has solely dedicated his life to serve the humanity and global community.

In the Tibetan tradition, “eat my tongue” is a phrase used particularly by grandparents especially if the child asks for candy which grandparents don’t have, the statement said, and added that defaming the Dalai Lama is undeniably a part of Chinese propaganda.
“Dalai Lama is a global icon of peace, a Nobel laureate. He is an embodiment of compassion and a beacon of hope, love and compassion and has been selflessly and tirelessly promoting religious harmony and peace,” according to the statement.
A playful interaction between the Dalai Lama and a boy, a genuine affection and playful moment have been ruined beyond imagination, the statement added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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#Dalai #Lama #incident #Congress #MLA #suggests #Chinese #hand
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 22, 2023
Republican donor retreat suggests Donald Trump is far from a coronation

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Without mentioning Trump’s name, Kemp pinned blame on the former president’s election loss grievances and warned that “not a single swing voter” will vote for a GOP nominee making such claims, calling 2020 “ancient history.”
Kemp, who found himself the object of Trump’s ire after declining to intervene to reverse his Georgia loss in 2020, represents a wing of the Republican Party that has sought to resist Trump’s grasp. So does New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu. So does former Vice President Mike Pence. Here — while Trump held his own private meetings out of sight — all three were given prime speaking slots.
That the Republican committee invited dissenters of Trump, even prospective challengers in next year’s presidential primary, points to the fact that even though Trump has first place in the polls, there are still many months of fighting ahead of him. His potential nomination is unlikely to come as a coronation.
The party’s donors are still weighing whether there is a viable alternative to Trump, though there is still no clear consensus on the matter, several said in interviews this weekend.
Standing in the lobby of the Four Seasons on Saturday, Sununu talked about Trump like this: “I don’t think he can win in 2024,” the governor said in an interview. “You don’t have to be angry about it. You don’t have to be negative about it. I think you just have to be willing to talk about it and bring real solutions to the table.”
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung referenced a POLITICO report of Trump’s robust first-quarter fundraising and said, “Poll after poll [shows] President Trump crushing the competition, there is no doubt whoever stands in his way will get eviscerated.”
Over breakfast, according to a person in the room and a copy of his speech obtained by POLITICO, Kemp told the donors the Republican nominee “must” be able to win Georgia’s 16 electoral college votes in order to win the White House.
“We have to be able to win a general election,” Kemp said. His comments could apply not only to Trump, but also to the defeat this fall of Trump-backed and scandal-plagued candidates like Herschel Walker, who lost his race even as Kemp defeated a well-funded Democratic challenger by nearly 8 points.

So far, a solution to stopping Trump has proved elusive to donors and operatives who have claimed for years they were trying to do just that.
Other likely primary opponents of Trump, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), were also invited to the RNC gathering, but declined due to scheduling conflicts. Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson, who called for Trump to drop out of the race post-indictment, and a sunglasses-clad Perry Johnson, a Michigan businessman running for president, also received invitations. Hutchinson and Johnson buzzed around the retreat, but did not have speaking slots.
“They’re sorting through it,” Hutchinson said, referring to how donors here and party activists elsewhere have responded to officials like Kemp, Sununu, himself and others who say the party must avoid a repeat of the 2020 general election. “But they’ve got to hear that message, and it’s like realism is coming to the party. And it takes people actually having the courage to say it before people will face that reality.”
Sheltered from the party-tractors circling a honky-tonk district just beyond the doors, some of the GOP’s deepest pocketed supporters gathered inside the luxury hotel Friday and Saturday. There, they hoped to be reassured of the party’s upcoming electoral prospects after a bruising midterm cycle and as an uncertain presidential election looms. Donors sipping white wine in the lobby lounge gawked at the pink-cowgirl-hat-clad bachelorette parties on the sidewalk outside. Inside the hotel Friday afternoon, a couple in town for a country music concert squealed at the sight of Kellyanne Conway, who was among the panelists at the weekend-long donor summit.
Ahead of the get-together and throughout the weekend, a slate of Republican 2024 hopefuls jetted up and down the East Coast and across the Midwest, the mad dash of candidates marking the busiest campaign week to date in the nascent presidential race. And that primary contest, of course, is a fight for what appears to be an increasingly difficult shot at dethroning Trump.
“How in God’s name could Donald Trump be portrayed as a victim? But it’s being done,” said one Republican donor at the event referencing Trump’s indictment, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, like others there who discussed with POLITICO the unfolding presidential primary.
The donor charged that Trump as the 2024 nominee “would lose even against Biden, which is tragic in its own sense,” but raised doubts about whether the candidates he did like — Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo — had the charisma or ability to push through.
Just minutes after the donor floated Pompeo’s name as a candidate of interest, the former secretary of state announced Friday evening he wouldn’t seek the nomination after all. Pompeo’s decision came after the GOP primary field has gradually swollen — and as Trump has surged in public polling.
But it didn’t stop Trump’s detractors from taking a swing in front of the audience of donors.
In his Friday night address and as donors dined on filet mignon and mashed potatoes, Pence decried “the politics of personality” and “lure of populism unmoored to timeless conservative values,” according to a copy of his prepared remarks. And Trump’s former running-mate described the presidential primary as not just a contest between the candidates involved, but a “conflict of visions” with existential implications.
Pence went after Trump directly on a number of policy areas, from defense and intervention in Ukraine to a ballooning national debt and Trump’s opposition to reforming entitlement programs, referring to him as “our former president.” He criticized Republicans’ waning interest in waging war against marriage equality, and the reticence some now appear to have about further restricting abortion rights — two areas where he finds himself at odds with his former boss.
The uncertain political atmosphere this weekend is much different from the RNC’s donor retreat a year ago, when an optimistic set of top party benefactors in New Orleans were expecting to see a red wave in the 2022 midterm elections. President Joe Biden and Democratic incumbents had approval numbers in the tank, and the GOP had just given Virginia Democrats an unexpected shellacking months earlier.
But the anticipated Republican Senate takeover this fall never materialized — in fact, the party lost a seat in the chamber — and the GOP only narrowly took over House control (or, as Kemp put it Saturday, “barely won the House majority back.”). Republicans lost gubernatorial races in Arizona and Pennsylvania that were widely believed to be winnable, if not for nominating candidates who espoused Trump’s stolen-election claims and other conspiracy theories that proved unpopular with the general electorate.
As the party elite gathered this time, any sense of optimism about Republicans’ electoral prospects was much less palpable.
Another donor, who said he was no diehard Trump fan, questioned not just DeSantis’ ability to break through in the primary but whether he could win in a general election. Calling the recent indictment against Trump “jet fuel” in the primary, the donor — like others here — said he was nearly resolved to the fact that Trump will be the party’s 2024 nominee.
Kemp in his speech outlined the policies he ran on to cruise to reelection as governor, a race he won against one of the Democratic Party’s top stars. Rather than moving to the middle on policy, Kemp in his campaign still touted deeply conservative measures like a six-week abortion ban, approving the permitless carry of handguns and banning certain lessons in schools about racism.
But throughout his speech, Kemp chided Republicans who have become “distracted” by claims about stolen elections and, more recently, Trump’s current and pending legal cases in New York and Georgia, asserting that such conversations only help Democrats.
Johnson, the Michigan candidate not currently registering in presidential polls, carried a stack of his book, “Two Cents to Save America,” around the hotel lobby restaurant on Saturday. He laughed recounting his takeaways from conversations with donors this weekend, as well as from a panel of RNC advisory council members Friday evening.
“Obviously, they know Trump lost,” Johnson said. “Even though we may have had an irregular situation in elections, they’re saying right on stage, it hasn’t changed. We’re going to continue to have mass mail ballots. And if the Republicans want to win, they have to live under the new reality.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 15, 2023
US report suggests child deaths in Gambia linked to made-in-India cough syrups

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New Delhi: A joint probe by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the US and the Gambian health authorities have suggested a strong link between the death of many children in Gambia and the consumption of made-in-India cough syrups that were allegedly contaminated.
In October, the World Health Organization (WHO) had issued an alert stating that the four cough syrups being supplied to Gambia by the India-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd were of substandard quality and claimed that they were linked to the death of many children in Gambia.
A CDC report released on Friday stated, “This investigation strongly suggests that medications contaminated with Diethylene Glycol [DEG] or Ethylene Glycol [EG] imported into the Gambia led to this Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) cluster among children.”
“Patients with DEG poisoning can experience a range of signs and symptoms, including altered mental status, headache, and gastrointestinal symptoms; however, the most consistent manifestation is AKI, characterized by oliguria (low urine output) or anuria, progressing over 1-3 days to renal failure (indicated by elevated serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen),” read the report.
According to the CDC, they were contacted by Gambia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) to assist in characterizing the illness (multiple cases of Acute Kidney Injury and deaths in children), describing the epidemiology, and identifying potential causal factors and their sources in August last year.
The report also said that in past DEG outbreaks, manufacturers have been suspected of substituting DEG in the place of more expensive, pharmaceutical-grade solvents.
“Among reports of AKI associated with DEG-contaminated medical products, this is the first in which DEG-contaminated medications were imported into a country, rather than being domestically manufactured,” it said.
It further said medications for export might be subject to less rigorous regulatory standards than those for domestic use.

“Simultaneously, low-resource countries might not have the human and financial resources to monitor and test imported drugs,” it stated.
Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar in a reply to Lok Sabha on February 3 had said that after testing, the samples of the cough syrups have been declared to be of standard quality.
The samples were found to be negative for both Diethylene Glycol (DEG) and Ethylene Glycol (EG), Pawar had said in a written reply to a question.
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#report #suggests #child #deaths #Gambia #linked #madeinIndia #cough #syrups
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 4, 2023
Thackeray group suggests disqualification proceedings against Shinde camp, SC declines

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday rejected the suggestion of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena to decide the disqualification proceedings pending against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and MLAs belonging to his camp, saying it cannot assume the role of the Speaker as doing so will have “serious ramifications”.
The Thackeray faction had on Tuesday insisted that the court decide the disqualification proceedings as that was the only way to “uphold the democratic spirit of the Constitution”.
“Right or wrong, this is the system we have assumed as ‘We the People’. Can a court try to breach this system? Should the court enter into that area? This is an area which is worrying us,” the court observed on Wednesday.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which was hearing a batch of pleas related to the June 2022 Maharashtra political crisis, told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction, that ultimately it is the Speaker of the House, who has to decide whether the rebellion by the Shinde bloc attracted the provisions of the anti-disqualification law.
“You are saying whatever has to be done has to be done at the behest of the party. Your argument is that they (Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde camp) have acted contrary to the interest of the party.
“They have appointed their own whip and leader of the party and their behavior and conduct invited disqualification but all of this leads us to one area that it is the Speaker of the House who is to decide whether there is any disqualification or not. That’s an area we are unable to breach,” the court said.
The five-judge bench, also comprising Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha, said it understood the arguments of Sibal that in parliamentary democracy, the political party is supreme.
“So far so good. It’s a very significant point you (Sibal) have made that they (Shinde faction) are elected representatives of Shiv Sena party and their behavior must be dictated by the party. Now, the question is, should the court enter into the area of Speaker and, if it assumes the role of Speaker, then it will have very serious ramification.

“Right or wrong, this is the system we have assumed as ‘We the People’. Now, will the court try and breach this system that is worrying us,” it said.
Sibal, assisted by advocate Amit Anand Tiwari, said this court has held that illegality cannot be allowed to be continued even for a day.
He said all these acts (by Shinde camp) were perpetuated by two orders of this court dated June 27, 2022 by which this court kept in abeyance their disqualification proceedings before the Deputy Speaker, and of June 29, 2022 by which the court refused to stay the direction of the Maharashtra governor to the 31-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to take a floor test in the assembly to prove its majority.
He submitted the top court should be worried because if this becomes a precedent, it can happen in other cases too.
The bench said if such a situation arises because of a judicial order, then it is a duty of the court to rectify that situation.
“Now, assuming that if we do so and place ourselves in a situation before June 27, 2022, then we would have said that let the Speaker decide and your argument would have been till the Speaker decided their disqualification, there should not be a trust vote.
“It would be very difficult to retrace our steps back in this scenario as the question would arise which Speaker or that Speaker,” the bench said.
Sibal said this was exactly what was done in the 2016 Nabam Rebia case, where the court set the clock back and ordered status quo ante by restoring the Arunachal Pradesh government.
The bench said, “Mr. Sibal you want Nabam Rebia (judgement to be followed) when it suits you and you don’t want it when it does not suit you. Today, we have a Speaker in a democratically elected house and after that can we now say that let the then deputy speaker take a call on disqualification. Sorry, it will be very difficult to retrace our steps back.”
Sibal submitted all these developments took place after the court order which allowed the status quo to be changed.
The bench said those two orders were passed after hearing arguments from both the sides and that retracing the steps would mean invalidating the trust vote which took place subsequently.
He said Parliament, in its wisdom, has used the term ‘Political Party’ under the provisions of Para 2(1)(b) of the Tenth Schedule, wherein a member attracts disqualification for going against the wishes or directions of the political party.
“Democracy only thrives when the institutions uphold the sanctity of the Constitution. In this case, the governor did not stop them (Eknath Shinde faction) or chose not to stop them. He never asked them who you represent or which party you represent. Unless Nabam Rebia is overruled, these situations are bound to happen.
“Governors are actively playing a role which is disturbing the polity of the state. I leave this court to find answers to these issues,” he said.
The hearing remained inclusive and will continue on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the top court had told the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena that the Speaker of a House functions like a tribunal in matters related to defection under the anti-defection law.
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#Thackeray #group #suggests #disqualification #proceedings #Shinde #camp #declines
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 22, 2023
Give CBI access to offshore accounts, SC suggests to Nirav Modi’s brother-in-law

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested that Mainak Mehta, brother-in-law of fugitive Nirav Modi, should consider providing the CBI a letter of authority to access his offshore bank accounts.
The CBI has alleged that Mehta has received a large sum of money siphoned off in the PNB fraud scam, where Modi is the key accused. The investigative agency also alleged that Mehta transferred the money to his and his wife’s offshore bank accounts.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud suggested Mehta’s counsel that he can give the letter of authority to an official designated by the CBI for accessing the bank details and the matter will end, and if not, then the court will have to take up CBI’s plea and decide it.
The CBI’s counsel submitted that Mehta had refused to give the letter of authority and as a result, the agency had to get letters rogatory (LRs) issued. “No response on LR has been received. We have written to the embassy (in Singapore) to pursue it,” counsel said.
The CBI’s counsel further argued that they apprehend that a huge amount of money has gone into those accounts and Mehra is a foreign national and his wife is a Belgian national, and once he leaves the country, he will not come back. Mehta is a British national who lives in Hong Kong with his family.
Senior advocate Amit Desai, representing Mehta, submitted that his client has been in India for a long time and he had always co-operated and false allegations have been made by the CBI. He added that his client is willing to give the letter of authority but then he will have to stay in India for another year, and emphasised that his client should be allowed to go for some time.
The top court noted that allowing Mehta to travel out of the country would mean the dismissal of the CBI’s appeal without a hearing and added that the court cannot compel Mehta to give the letter of authority to the CBI. After hearing arguments, the top court listed the matter for further hearing on February 9.
The apex court was hearing CBI’s plea challenging the August last year order of the Bombay High Court which had allowed Mehta to travel to Hong Kong and stay there for three months.

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#Give #CBI #access #offshore #accounts #suggests #Nirav #Modis #brotherinlaw
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023