Treat Mental Patients With Empathy, Says Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Advising graduating students of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences to treat patients with empathy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said they must work towards eradication of superstitions concerning mental illness in society. Addressing the convocation ceremony of the institute, PM Modi said superstitions often blocked proper treatment for the mentally ill. "The field of mental health faces the triple challenges of lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, and superstition, and people have to understand that mental illness can be treated, and is curable scientifically," PM Modi said. He told them that people from various sections of society, in some way or the other, had contributed in their success and that they should "always attempt to live and work for the benefit of the poor and underprivileged sections of society". This is the way to find inner happiness, he said. Their task was tough, but he was confident "that their education and their spirit of service would help them accomplish what they had set out to do". Union Ministers Sadananda Gowda, Ananth Kumar and J.P. Nadda, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala and Chief Minister Siddaramiah were also present at the event.