SCREENING FINDS 44% WOMEN FACING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

MUMBAI: A statewide healthcare drive has revealed that about 44.35% women aged 30 years or above are facing mental health issues. The state health department had screened 1,56,49,320 women under the ‘Mata Surakshit Tar Ghar Surakshit’ initiative kickstarted in September this year. Of them, 69,40,299 have reported mental health issues.

According to the health officials, the women were found to have mental health issues related to substance abuse, domestic violence etc, and stress factors in the backdrop of the Covid pandemic.

Dr Padmaja Jogewar, joint director of the non-communicable disease cell, Directorate of Health Services, said, “Community health workers and auxiliary nurse midwives carried out the screening process. We found substance abuse, tobacco and alcohol, stress, anxiety and other mental health issues among women.” She said there may be some effects of the pandemic along with family issues.

Welcoming the move, Dr Avinash Desousa, former president of Bombay Psychiatric Society, said, “With many people, substance abuse is a method of coping with stress. They may drink or smoke to relieve stress, but while doing so, it becomes a habit and a disorder in itself. The relationship between psychiatric illness and substance abuse is bidirectional and the two go hand in hand. People trying to recover from mental illness and taking these substances might further worsen the illness. We call it substance-induced mental illness. We also need more awareness on cigarettes or alcohol addiction.”

While the first phase of the drive is over, the health department has begun the second phase, where they will be revisiting these women and checking on the treatment plan.

“In the first phase, women were counselled and asked to take appropriate medical help. The idea behind the initiative is to primarily identify health issues among women and assist them. The second phase includes following up and checking if the treatment has started,” said a senior health official.

The health officials also found 2,29,550 diabetes and 3,80,114 hypertension, 18,100 suspected cervical cancer, 52,568 suspected breast cancer and other cancer, and 7,34,679 anaemia patients.

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