Meghalaya cabinet approves mental health policy

mental health
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The Meghalaya cabinet on November 29 approved the Meghalaya Mental Health and Social Care Policy.

Addressing media persons, chief minister Conrad Sangma said this is a very important policy and a subject which has not been given the kind of importance in the past.

“As a state and as a government, we strongly feel that mental health issues are usually neglected and hence comprehensive policy is required to address this issue. Therefore, the policy was approved today by the cabinet,” he said.

Stating that Meghalaya is the third state in the country to come up with a mental health policy, the chief minister said: “I am sure this particular policy will ensure that the proper attention that should be given to mental health especially when it comes to young children, adolescence, teenagers and of course this is a subject which is very vast and covers the different subject of individual lives and different aspects that lead to issues of mental health.”

On the occasion of World Mental Health Day on October 10, the Meghalaya government had announced the state’s “first-ever draft state mental health and social care policy”.

State health and family welfare minister, James Sangma, while formally announced the draft policy and had said that universal access to mental healthcare is an important goal of the state government and added that the state has achieved a major milestone in the health sector through the announcement of this draft policy.

Meanwhile, the cabinet has also approved the amendment of the Meghalaya Victim Compensation Scheme 2019.

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