Community Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560029, India.
Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Community Ment Health J. 2021 Apr;57(3):442-445. doi: 10.1007/s10597-021-00773-1. Epub 2021 Jan 16.
COVID 19 pandemic has posed challenges for public mental healthcare delivery, particularly in LAMI countries such as India. However, this unique situation has also brought in opportunities to revisit the health system and optimally utilize the available resources. In this brief report, we report one such new initiative in which existing community health workers (CHWs), known as ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activist) acted as a bridge between patients with mental illness and the District Mental Health Program (DMHP) of Ramanagara district of Karnataka State, India. They maintained continuity of care of 76 patients by delivering mental healthcare services to the patients' doorstep. This has paved the way to rethink and revisit their role in public mental healthcare delivery not only during COVID 19 times, but also beyond.
COVID-19 大流行给公共精神卫生保健服务带来了挑战,特别是在印度等 LAMI 国家。然而,这种独特的情况也为重新审视卫生系统和最佳利用现有资源提供了机会。在这份简短的报告中,我们报告了一项新举措,即利用现有的社区卫生工作者(称为 ASHAs)作为桥梁,将精神病患者与印度卡纳塔克邦拉马纳加拉区的地区精神卫生计划(DMHP)联系起来。他们通过上门为 76 名患者提供精神卫生服务,保持了患者的护理连续性。这为重新思考和重新审视他们在公共精神卫生保健服务中的作用铺平了道路,不仅在 COVID-19 期间,而且在以后也是如此。