‘World Health Day 2017 in Guwahati, Assam’ Event

It was a cold and windy Friday morning in Guwahati. The Organising Team gathered at NEDFi House, the venue. The delegates started pouring in. Registration number crossed 170. Dr Bornali Das, Psychiatric Social Worker from the Department of Psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), Guwahati and Secretary of Society for Mental Health in LAMIC (SoMHiL) started the proceedings with recitation of a caption that won the first prize among adults:

Tired of trying

Tired of hoping

Tired of coping

Tired of existing

Tired of breathing

Tired of living

“I am done”

Organising Chairperson Prof Hemendra Ram Phookun, Professor and Head of the Department (HoD), Department of Psychiatry, GMCH welcomed the delegates and invited Prof Atindra Kumar Adhikari, Principal-cum-Chief Superintendent, GMCH and Dr Debashish Roy, Regional Team Leader, East, World Health Organization – India (NPSP) to the dais. There was lighting of the lamp.

Distinguished dignitaries were felicitated with assists from Gitali Kakati (Editorial Assistant, Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences [OJPAS]) as well as Arundhati Bhagawati, Jyotismita Choudhury, and Manisha Bora from the Department of Psychiatry, GMCH.

Prof Adhikari delivered the keynote address, followed by World Health Day (WHD) theme presentation by Dr Roy.

Next was a skit on depression by Aawaz Foundation from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati and the performers were Devdarshan Chetia, Anuraag Khaund, Priyam Bhardwaj, Sagarika Pathak, Mandit Bhuyan, Anamriya Baruah, Annesha Goswami, Medha Kaushik, and Gaurav Barthakur.

Former HoD, Department of Psychiatry, GMCH Prof Dipesh Bhagabati delivered his lecture on “Depression: relevance and way forward in the state of Assam and North East Region of India” followed by the narration of his suffering from depression by Biswajyoti Das.

Dr Mythili Hazarika, Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, GMCH and President of SoMHIL played a video on depression in vernacular language, i.e. Assamese. Thereafter an interactive session with audience was started. Prompt participation was rewarded with chocolates instantaneously. Happiness questionnaire was also presented and explained.

Prof Seema Rekha Devi, Professor and HoD, Department of Plastic Surgery, GMCH presented on depression from the perspectives of individuals after burn injury. It was followed by Rocky Srivastava’s speech on his experience following a burn injury who has successfully recovered from depression.

Prof Phookun moderated the Panel Discussion participated by Manisha Hazarika, Dr Srutimala Duara, PJ Baruah, Dr Debajit Nath, and Neelotpal Deka representing personalities from music, academics, literature, media, police, and law. It was followed by a lively participation from the audience.

Prize distribution of the build-up events followed. The judges were Dr Ahalya Raguram (Professor and Former HoD of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS, Bangalore) and Varsha Avadhany (Organisational Development Consultant, Bangalore). Children’s caption competition was won by Dyuksha Hazarika from Royal Global School, Guwahati, Rinkie Bora from Shrimanta Shankar Academy, Guwahati, and Nimisha Patra from Royal Global School. Adults’ caption competition was won by Ricky Khuraijam, Sarangthem Bijeeta, and Lalnunmawie; all of them were from Arya Nursing College, Guwahati. The award for poster went to Nilakshi Kalita of Cotton College State University, Guwahati.

Renowned litterateur and poet Janardan Goswami recited a poem of his depicting the suffering of an individual going through depression.

Organising Secretary Dr Shyamanta Das, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, GMCH and Editor, OJPAS offered the vote of thanks on behalf of the Organising Team: the World Health Organization (WHO) represented by Dr Roy, Dr Subhajit Bhattacharjee (North East Sub-Regional Team Lead [Assam & 6 Sister States], WHO India -NPSP, Guwahati), and Dr Arup Kumar Deka (State Surveillance Medical Officer, Assam, WHO India – NPSP-Unit, Guwahati) and the Department of Psychiatry, GMCH.

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Dr Rajeev Kumar Sharma, Addl Director of Health Services (G), Assam cum State Programme Officer, National Mental Health Programme, Assam requested Prof Hemendra Ram Phookun, Professor and Head of the Department, Department of Psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), Guwahati to conduct training of different categories of staff working under District Mental Health Programme (DMHP). The Department agreed and thus, under the stewardships of Prof Phookun and Dr Ramen Talukdar, Superintendent, GMCH, a team of faculties of the Department consisting of Dr Shyamanta Das (Editor of the Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences [OJPAS®]), Dr Bornali Das (Secretary of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC [SoMHiL]), Dr Simanta Talukdar, Dr Mythili Hazarika (President of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC [SoMHiL]), and Dr Utpal Bora took the responsibility for the event with assist from office staff Dhanti Borah.

The following 12 districts of Assam were approached where currently DMHP is going on: Dhubri, Goalpara, Baksa, Nalbari, Darrang, Morigaon, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Majuli, Tinsukia, and Dhemaji. Sixteen doctors working as Medical Officers as well as ten psychologists and social workers from the above mentioned districts turned up. They include: Dr Bhaskar Singha, Dr Probin Kr Nath, Dr Dhrubajyoti Deka, Dr Kaushik Kr Doloi, Dr Pabitra Mahilary, Dr Basob Jyoti Hazarika, Dr Nazrul Islam, Dr Aparajita Pator, Dr Lakshi Kanta Teron, Dr Rahul Nath, Dr Devraj Deori, Dr Amit Kumar Deka, Dr Abinash Talukdar, Dr Kiran Borah, Dr Guljar Hussain, Dr Sandip Roy, Pranjal Rajkhowa, Hinse Boru, Gitamoni Borah, Nirupama Chetia, Momi Devi, Snigdha Pathak, Susmita Sarkar, Prodip Timung, Puspa Kalita, and Lakhyajyoti Das.

Maslow’s basic needs were taken care of in the forms of gut satisfying food and accommodation in comfort. Thereafter resumed the brainstorming sessions of five days from 27 to 31 March 2017 having 15-class a day from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. The nature of training was in the forms of both induction and refresher training with the expected outcome of capacity enhancement to implement the activities of DMHP as per national guidelines.

Apart from the above mentioned faculties of the organising team, the resource persons also included other faculties of the Department: Dr Deepanjali Medhi, Dr Bobby Hmar, Dr Amal Chandra Baishya, and Hemanta Sharma. Dr Lakshya Basumatary from Department of Neurology, GMCH and Chandranshu Chaturvedy, Research Officer, Judicial Academy, Assam added shine to the glitterati of resource persons. While Basumatary talked on ‘epilepsy’, Chaturvedy deliberated on the ‘legal aspects in psychiatry’.

The faculties of the Department covered all the relevant topics related to mental health: aetiology of mental illness, classification of symptomatology, case history taking, case presentation, neurosis, anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, panic and phobia, conversion disorder/ somatisation, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, mania, schizophrenia, dementia, organic psychosis, delusional disorder, psychotic disorders, mental retardation,  externalising disorders, internalising disorder, geriatric psychiatry, suicide and prevention, acute psychiatric emergency, alcohol and substance abuse disorder, counselling and psychotherapy, casework and group therapy, group therapy in community, microskills of counselling and practice, family therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, community based rehabilitation, stress management, psychometry, life skills education, motivational interview, psychodiagnostic and testing, advocacy and networking, parent management in childhood, ethics in counselling, integration of mental health, community mental health, research in mental health.

There was an exposure visit on 30 March 2017 to Astitva, the multispeciality clinic for holistic management where the founder Kakoli Nath, Audiologist and Speech Pathologist gave the participants orientation. Pre- and post-assessments were done along with feedback as well as certificates for participation were distributed among the participants by the faculties of the Department.

Dr Rajeev Kumar Sharma, Addl Director of Health Services (G), Assam cum State Programme Officer, National Mental Health Programme, Assam requested Prof Hemendra Ram Phookun, Professor and Head of the Department, Department of Psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), Guwahati to conduct training of different categories of staff working under District Mental Health Programme (DMHP). The Department agreed and thus, under the stewardships of Prof Phookun and Dr Ramen Talukdar, Superintendent, GMCH, a team of faculties of the Department consisting of Dr Shyamanta Das (Editor of the Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences [OJPAS®]), Dr Bornali Das (Secretary of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC [SoMHiL]), Dr Simanta Talukdar, Dr Mythili Hazarika (President of the Society for Mental Health in LAMIC [SoMHiL]), and Dr Utpal Bora took the responsibility for the event with assist from office staff Dhanti Borah.

The following 12 districts of Assam were approached where currently DMHP is going on: Dhubri, Goalpara, Baksa, Nalbari, Darrang, Morigaon, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Majuli, Tinsukia, and Dhemaji. Sixteen doctors working as Medical Officers as well as ten psychologists and social workers from the above mentioned districts turned up. They include: Dr Bhaskar Singha, Dr Probin Kr Nath, Dr Dhrubajyoti Deka, Dr Kaushik Kr Doloi, Dr Pabitra Mahilary, Dr Basob Jyoti Hazarika, Dr Nazrul Islam, Dr Aparajita Pator, Dr Lakshi Kanta Teron, Dr Rahul Nath, Dr Devraj Deori, Dr Amit Kumar Deka, Dr Abinash Talukdar, Dr Kiran Borah, Dr Guljar Hussain, Dr Sandip Roy, Pranjal Rajkhowa, Hinse Boru, Gitamoni Borah, Nirupama Chetia, Momi Devi, Snigdha Pathak, Susmita Sarkar, Prodip Timung, Puspa Kalita, and Lakhyajyoti Das.

Maslow’s basic needs were taken care of in the forms of gut satisfying food and accommodation in comfort. Thereafter resumed the brainstorming sessions of five days from 27 to 31 March 2017 having 15-class a day from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. The nature of training was in the forms of both induction and refresher training with the expected outcome of capacity enhancement to implement the activities of DMHP as per national guidelines.

Apart from the above mentioned faculties of the organising team, the resource persons also included other faculties of the Department: Dr Deepanjali Medhi, Dr Bobby Hmar, Dr Amal Chandra Baishya, and Hemanta Sharma. Dr Lakshya Basumatary from Department of Neurology, GMCH and Chandranshu Chaturvedy, Research Officer, Judicial Academy, Assam added shine to the glitterati of resource persons. While Basumatary talked on ‘epilepsy’, Chaturvedy deliberated on the ‘legal aspects in psychiatry’.

The faculties of the Department covered all the relevant topics related to mental health: aetiology of mental illness, classification of symptomatology, case history taking, case presentation, neurosis, anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, panic and phobia, conversion disorder/ somatisation, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, mania, schizophrenia, dementia, organic psychosis, delusional disorder, psychotic disorders, mental retardation,  externalising disorders, internalising disorder, geriatric psychiatry, suicide and prevention, acute psychiatric emergency, alcohol and substance abuse disorder, counselling and psychotherapy, casework and group therapy, group therapy in community, microskills of counselling and practice, family therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, community based rehabilitation, stress management, psychometry, life skills education, motivational interview, psychodiagnostic and testing, advocacy and networking, parent management in childhood, ethics in counselling, integration of mental health, community mental health, research in mental health.

There was an exposure visit on 30 March 2017 to Astitva, the multispeciality clinic for holistic management where the founder Kakoli Nath, Audiologist and Speech Pathologist gave the participants orientation. Pre- and post-assessments were done along with feedback as well as certificates for participation were distributed among the participants by the faculties of the Department.

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Shyamanta Das, Editor of the Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences (OJPAS^®) talked on “Management of child and adolescent mental health problems” in the workshop on “Child and adolescent mental health: a challenge for teachers” organised by Asian Institute of Nursing Education, Guwahati on 30 March 2017 at Pragati Manor, Guwahati.

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‘Indexing and Abstracting’ of the ‘Peer-Reviewed’ ‘Academic Journal’, Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences (OJPAS®),[www.ojpas.com] formerly ‘Dysphrenia’ (‘ISSN: 2249-9377’) in ‘Academic Search Alumni Edition (EBSCO Publishing)’ ‘started from 07/01/2012’ and Availability is ‘Available Now’.[https://www.ebscohost.com/titleLists/a2h-journals.htm]

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Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences (OJPAS) is ‘Registered’ with Controller General of Patents Design & Trade Marks, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India; thus, OJPAS™ becomes OJPAS^®

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