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.

The IPS also called for replacing Kerala’s 2013 State mental health policy with a new policy aligned with the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017. It said the new policy should be based on research-driven assessment of mental healthcare needs, identify gaps in service delivery and link budget allocations to assessed needs and measurable outcomes.

The policy should be periodically reviewed and updated, with continuous quality assurance of all mental health programmes, the memorandum said.

The delegation also sought the modernisation of psychiatric wards in district and taluk hospitals, expansion of community mental health services, integration of mental healthcare into primary health centres, increased funding for training and anti-stigma campaigns, and improvements in clinical infrastructure across the state.

IPS general secretary Anees Ali and vice-president T. Sagar led the delegation. The other members were Rajmohan V., Mohan Sundaram and Mohan Roy G.

“The Chief Minister has assured us that the government would examine the recommendations and consider steps to strengthen mental healthcare policy and infrastructure in the State,” said Dr. Anees.