100 psychiatrists attend 2-day meet

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, November 13

A two-day conference on mental health concluded here today. It was attended by 100 psychiatrists from Haryana and the tricity. Dr Ajit Avasthi, Head of the PGI Psychiatry Department, was the chief guest on the occasion.

A panel discussion on legal status of suicide in India was the highlight of the conference.

Manbir Rathi, Advocate, District Legal Services Authority, Panchkula, said: “Right to life is a natural right embodied in Article 21 of the Constitution. But suicide is an unnatural termination or extinction of life and thus incompatible and inconsistent with the concept of right to life”.

Dr Rajeev Trehan, in-charge of Psychiatry and De-addiction Department of the Civil Hospital, Panchkula, while participating in the panel discussion, said all patients who committed suicide have a history of attempted suicide. The objective behind the conference was to provide information regarding the epidemiology, risk factors and associated aspects of suicide and to provide information that will assist in the understanding and assessment of suicide risk.