This story is from November 6, 2019

IMA comes up with mental health booklet for medical students

After back-to-back incidences of medical students’ suicides and assaults on resident doctors, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), under its Doctors4Doctors project, has come out with e-book ‘MBBS — A guide to well-being for medical students’. Experts from IMA and While Swan Foundation have drafted this booklet and its available for free online.
IMA comes up with mental health booklet for medical students
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NAGPUR: After back-to-back incidences of medical students’ suicides and assaults on resident doctors, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), under its Doctors4Doctors project, has come out with e-book ‘MBBS — A guide to well-being for medical students’. Experts from IMA and While Swan Foundation have drafted this booklet and its available for free online.
The book covers almost every aspect — from common struggles of MBBS students who come from other states and cities, their mental well-being, the way to deal with stress, handling ragging, discrimination and bullying, and dealing with difficult people at medical college.
While IMA is going to promote this booklet in medical colleges, authorities of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) are also mulling to include it as a reference book for first year MBBS students.
“Suicides among doctors is a matter of serious concern for us, especially in recent years. A recent study of medical professionals show that the rate of suicides is 30% more in doctors as compared to other professions. So, IMA took the initiative in 2018 and started drafting this booklet,” said Dr Ravi Wankhedkar, former IMA national president, during whose tenure this concept was brought.
The D4D forum was established with a goal to prevent burnout, address mental health challenges and reduce the incidence of suicide among clinicians at an individual, institutional and national level. A psychiatrists’ sub-committee was formed to deal with these issues.
“We included nationally renowned experts of all parameters — right from psychology to diet and yoga — in this initiative. They have written articles in very lucid format and we have presented it in engaging manner,” Dr Wankhedkar added.
IMA has already approached all health universities in the country to include this book in their syllabus. MUHS is considering it positively.
“The syllabus for MBBS was revised after a gap of 21 years recently. In this new format, students will also get lessons on gender sensitivity, communication skills, lifestyle diseases, behavioural sciences and medical jurisprudence during their MBBS course only. The present booklet by IMA could be a good reference reading material for them,” said Dr K D Chavan, registrar of MUHS.

Tips in the book
How to face bullying, discrimination and ragging: Bullying of all kinds right from cyber bullying to racist bullying, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, ragging etc
How to deal with grief: How to handle a loss of a friend, break-up of a romantic relationship, divorce in your family, loss of a job, death of a loved one
How to handle psychological issues: Depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders, suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, or attempting suicide
Dealing with difficult people: How to keep focus while dealing with medicine suppliers, seniors, patients, and their relatives, and how to avoid conflict
How to seek help: Contacts of counsellors, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, and various helpline numbers by IMA and other groups, also mental health apps
Where to get the e-book
https://www.whiteswanfoundation.org/ebook/a-guide-to-wellbeing-for-medical-students/ available on this link for free
author
About the Author
Chaitanya Deshpande

Chaitanya Deshpande is Principal Correspondent at The Times of India, Nagpur. He has a PG degree in English literature and Mass communication. Chaitanya covers public health, medical issues, medical education, research in the fields of medicine, microbiology, biotechnology. He also covers culture, fine arts, theatre, folk arts, literature, and life. Proficient in Marathi and Hindi along with English, Chaitanya loves music, theatre and literature of all three languages.

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