While various studies have suggested tribal people in the country are increasingly becoming prone to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like obesity and hypertension, not much material on the condition of their mental health is available, experts on Monday rued here.
Expressing concern at the gaps and lack of data at a roundtable on "Mental Health of Scheduled Tribes in India" they called upon the Government to reach out to the community to frame a national level policy for their mental health.
Dr. Pallab Maulik from The George Institute for Global Health India said, "There is lack of information on mental health of Scheduled Tribes in the country from the research as well as service delivery perspective. Some of the projects undertaken in India show that there are mental health issues among the STs, but we are not looking at them at all.
"We need to look at bringing the tribal community in to the mainstream discussion about their health, check their needs and develop research accordingly," he added.
Dr P Subramaniam, Director, Tribal Research Centre, Department of Tribal Welfare, Tamil Nadu said, "The tribal population is generally isolated and lacks the basic medical facilities and there is inadequate health infrastructure. Their overall health status is extremely poor, especially mental health. Currently the Government is working closely with NGOs for conducting mental health awareness camps, however, these need to be conducted more intensively on a regular basis."
Prof R Srinivasa Murthy, Professor of Psychiatry(Retd.), NIMHANS, Bangalore said, "We need to have a thorough understanding of the development personality of the tribal population and look closely at the social/ community cohesion and mental health of Individuals."
Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) president Brigadier Dr MSVK Raju said they have constituted a task force to conduct a survey to evaluate the mental health of the tribal people in the country. Stating that while there was no data available on their mental health status, Dr Raju said the community is facing changes in their lifestyles and were often being displaced from their native places which effect their mental health.