Meerut: People suffering from mental health issues, ranging from anxiety and depression to panic attacks, can now visit city’s PL Sharma district hospital where a counselling centre was thrown open on Monday by the authorities.Known as ‘mann kaksh’, the centre will have two counsellors at any given time to attend to the patients. According to hospital authorities, the counsellors will hear the ‘mann ki baat’ of the mental health patients and ease them of their depression or any other apprehensions that they might be going through.The initiative is part of the National Mental Health programme. There are over 150 million individuals estimated to be suffering from mental health issues in the country.“Under the National Mental Health programme, a district counselling centre has been started in PL Sharma district hospital, where patients with mental illness or any kind of depression will be able to share their problems with the counsellors here.“Apart from the counsellors of mental health unit, counsellors appointed for other units like AIDS and Tuberculosis will also sit on duty here,” said Dr. PK Bansal, superintendent-in-chief, PL Sharma district hospital.There are a total of 12 counsellors in the district who are stationed at Community Health Centres (CHCs). These counsellors have been assigned duty such that at least two of them remain present at the centre at the district hospital, Bansal said.The counselling centre is being headed by Dr Vibha Nagar, clinical psychologist. A mental health unit was opened in PL Sharma district hospital last year. Earlier, the unit was available only at Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial (LLRM) Medical College in the city.However, this is the first time that a counselling centre has been opened.“People do not consider disorders like anxiety as a mental disease, which eventually leads to stress, hypertension and blood pressure. We see at least 50 patients in a day, which comes down to nearly 1500 patients in a month. Now, we will counsel patients, and if needed, they will also be directed to the Out Patient department for medicines,” said Dr. Vibha Nagar, clinical psychologist, mental health unit, PL Sharma district hospital.

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