The proposed site for the psychiatric OPD on the premises of MGM Medical College and Hospital. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, May 31: Now, mental health for common people will not be an uncommon matter.

To decentralise mental healthcare, the State Mental Health Authority has decided to come up with psychiatric outpatient departments (OPDs) across the state this year.

The first OPD will open on MGM Medical College and Hospital premises in Jamshedpur by mid-June. In the coming months, mental healthcare outreach services will come up in districts like Godda, Hazaribagh and Lohardaga at their respective sadar hospitals.

Dumka, Daltonganj and Gumla districts already have psychiatric OPDs.

In the field of mental healthcare, the first name that comes to mind in the state is Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (Rinpas).

But one institute cannot address the needs of a rapidly changing society. According to Rinpas director Amool Ranjan Singh, Rinpas figures showed steep hike of mentally ill people in the past decade. While in 2000, the number of patients at the Rinpas OPD was 8,000, in 2010 it had risen to a whopping 73,000.

This Jamshedpur venture, jointly initiated by the state authority and various district mental health outfits, will cost around Rs 35 lakh per year to maintain. The department of health and family welfare has also created three posts to run the OPD — psychiatrist, psychologist and social worker. Though initially the service was to start by May, it was delayed due to technical snags.

“The OPD will definitely be functional by June and I’m sure it will help people in Jamshedpur who are undergoing psychiatric problems. Expert consultants can treat mental disorders such as depression or stress and that too, free of cost. Even medicines will be free. A psychiatric OPD is a must as often people don’t get the right kind of help,” said Singh.

This is the first time that MGM, the only government-run hospital in the city, will have a psychiatry section, though it will be monitored externally.

Welcoming the move, hospital authorities said patients who otherwise had to be referred to Ranchi, would gain the most from the OPD.

“On an average, we generally have about 50 mental patients a month. But doctors mostly refer them to Rinpas in the capital. Another problem is that once you refer a patient to a psychiatrist, she or he as well as their family members get horrified. The taboo is so strong. We have to change these mindsets. Both counselling and treatment will be done on the premises,” said S.S. Prasad, MGM superintendent.