Indian Psychiatric Society urges mental health policy revamp
The Kerala branch of the Indian Psychiatric Society has requested the state government to appoint psychiatrists as heads of mental health centers. They also advocate for a new state mental health policy aligned with the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 to improve patient care and infrastructure.
Why it matters
Ensuring specialized leadership in mental health institutions is critical for improving the quality of patient-centered care and administrative efficiency.
The Kerala branch of Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) has urged the State government to appoint psychiatrists as heads of government mental health centres and formulate a new mental health policy for the State in line with the Mental Healthcare Act 2017.
A delegation of psychiatrists met Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) and submitted a memorandum seeking reforms in mental healthcare delivery, infrastructure and governance.
The delegation said specialist institutions should be headed by specialists from the respective disciplines, noting that cancer centres are led by oncologists and cardiac institutes by cardiologists.
It said some government mental health centres are currently headed by officials who are not psychiatrists because of administrative arrangements introduced under the cadre system. Appointing psychiatrists as superintendents would improve the quality of care and enable faster, patient-centred decision making, it said.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in