No data of Medical Intern suicide with Govt: Health Minister in Parliament

To address mental health challenges and promote student well-being, several initiatives have been implemented by the National Medical Commission, Jadhav said in a reply in Rajya Sabha.

He said a yoga module of 10 days has been made mandatory for all students, and faculty have also been requested to join. This will precede International Yoga Day on June 21. The students will be doing yoga for an hour daily as per the module designed by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga. Yoga has also been introduced in the MBBS foundation course, he informed.

Additionally, the family adoption programme through village outreach will make students more mature and empathetic towards the rural populace, which will alleviate their depression and prevent ragging, he stated in the reply.

Further, there is an anti-ragging cell of NMC that addresses issues and complaints of all medical students, Jadhav stated. Colleges have also been asked to monitor mentor-mentee programmes wherein a mentor may be selected from the level of professor/HOD to assistant professor, who would handhold small groups of students to help them and prevent mental harassment, reports PTI.

The government has also released the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in November 2022. Besides the above, the government has launched a National Tele Mental Health Programme on October 10, 2022, to further improve access to quality mental health counselling and care services in the country. As of March 19, 36 states and UTs have set up 53 Tele MANAS Cells, which offer tele-mental health services through a toll-free number. Over 19 lakh calls have been handled on the helpline number, Jadhav informed.

The government has also launched the Tele MANAS Mobile Application on October 10, 2024 — World Mental Health Day. The mobile application has been developed to provide support for mental health issues ranging from well-being to mental disorders, he explained.

All states and UTs have been requested for wide publicity of Tele MANAS in the respective regions, especially among students in educational institutions, the MoS Health said. Similarly, all institutes of national importance, such as AIIMS and central government medical colleges, have also been urged to publicise Tele MANAS among students to access the helpline at any time for free and confidential support, he stated in the reply.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NMC had revealed that altogether 122 medical students committed suicide in the last five years i.e. between 2018 and 2022 and among them altogether 64 students were pursuing MBBS courses and 58 students were pursuing postgraduate medical courses.

Also Read: 64 MBBS, 58 PG Medicos Committed Suicide in Last Five Years, reveals NMC Data

State-wise, most of the MBBS students who committed suicide in these last five years belonged to Kerala (9 students) and Tamil Nadu (8 students). On the other hand, the highest number of doctors, who committed suicide while pursuing PG medical courses belonged to Karnataka and Maharashtra. In these two states, 11 PG medicos each committed suicide during their course of study.