Bengaluru: Jayanagar Government Hospital gets India's first Brain Health Clinic

Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar has inaugurated a Brain Health Clinic under the Karnataka Brain Health Initiative (KaBHI) here at Jayanagar Government Hospital.

KaBHI aims to promote brain health from Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to secondary level district hospitals and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) at the tertiary level.

The main focus of the KaBHI initiative is to train PHC doctors to diagnose and provide primary care for brain and mental health issues including Stroke, Epilepsy, Parkinson's, Brain Tumor and Dementia.

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Further, the initiative focuses on training ASHA workers to screen people for such mental health issues which greatly increases the speed of diagnosis and treatment potentially offering a complete cure to some of these diseases.

Minister Sudhakar spoke at the World Brain Day-2022 event organised at NIMHANS and stated that treatment for mental health will be available at the 243 Namma Clinics which will be started in Bengaluru.

Doctors working in most rural PHCs are MBBS doctors and lack skills and knowledge to diagnose Mental Health issues. With the help of NIMHANS, we have trained 100 such PHC doctors to make mental health treatment more accessible at primary and secondary levels.

Sudhakar also spoke about the taboo and stigma associated with mental health. "Many people have wrong opinions, taboos and stigma about Mental health.

"If one is seen going to a counsellor or a psychiatrist, people think that there is something wrong with the person's brain or that they are mad. Many don't get to go because of this," he said.

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The initiative was launched in January 2022 by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on a pilot basis for Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Bengaluru South districts and will soon be extended across the state.

Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa, who is also a Kanandiga, has been made the ambassador for the initiative and Minister Sudhakar appreciated him during the event for readily agreeing to be the ambassador without expecting any remuneration.

Suvarna Alladi, professor and head of the Department of Neurology at NIMHANS told TH, "For the first time in India, PHC doctors will be certified in the treatment of common neurological diseases. Training programme for ASHA workers has been developed to screen patients with neurological disorders at Health and Wellness centres and homes so that early identification and treatment can be provided at the grassroots level."

"Ka-BHI is developing strong forward and backward referral linkages between primary, secondary and tertiary levels for patients who need specialised treatment for neurological diseases," she said.

"These clinics will ensure patients with neurological diseases receive multidisciplinary care including counselling, physiotherapy, rehabilitation and disability benefits. Realising the importance of mental health counselling, we started the e-manas programme during the pandemic and this has become a model for the entire country. Over 25 lakh COVID patients have been counselled so far," said the Minister.

According to a NIMHANS statement released on Friday explaining the initiative further, it said "brain health-promoting activities such as physical exercise, yoga, sports, traditional art and crafts, stress reduction and nutritional support will be initiated in the pilot districts to promote brain health. A "Know Your PHC" campaign is being launched, where trained PHC doctors will share information about brain health using various digital and in-person platforms. Messages promoting brain health will be disseminated widely and by doing so, the community will become familiar with their doctors and access the healthcare system in a timely manner."

Minister K. Sudhakar shared the information in a Tweet and said "Glad to inaugurate India's first-of-its-kind collaborative Brain Health Clinic at Jayanagar General Hospital, Bengaluru established by the state health dept under the Karnataka Brain Health Initiative (KaBHI) in association with NIMHANS."