This November, I was fortunate to attend Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) services under Supervision of Dr M V Ashok at St John's Hospital Bangalore. As a trainee Psychiatrist, I worked for 3 months in St John's and came to know that Dr Ashok was leaving for further training in CAP to the UK. Upon his return he set up this service, which now is approximately 20 years old.
I could see from the numbers and the great distance from which patients arrived, that this service is a great success.
Dr Ashok works with Dr Vijaya Raman (Senior Psychologist), Dr Suhas Chandran (Assistant Professor) and post-doctoral fellows. This core team is embedded in the 'Centre of Hope' which is the facility dedicated to serve children with special needs. The Centre of Hope is a huge building where Developmental pediatricians and other pediatric specialists like Orthopedicians, nephrologists, neurologists, Opthalmologists, ENT specialists and the full range of Specialists work. In addition, there are trained nurses, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, specialist psychologist and specialist medical social workers. A CommDeall centre is also included in this team. This the first time I have seen so many specialists work together, cordially, with common goal of giving the best life for children with special needs. St John's hospital also has very good gardens, security and traffic management, tuck shop and canteen with delicious food. Services are offered at very inexpensive rates. This is part of the general hospital and so the whole family can be served. I think this is a very good system for providing healthcare services.
CAP services treat children from infancy to adulthood. Thereafter, they are taken over by the adult Psychiatry services in a smooth transition. Patients are examined thoroughly and unhurriedly. Treatment is intensive and goal- oriented. Patients are seen in outpatient, inpatient and different therapies. Children with Intellectual challenges, autism, genetic disorders, behavior problems, emotional disorders, stress induced disorders and mental illness are treated in this service. Counseling, therapy, medication and ECT are available for children.
Work typically starts at 9am and extends upto 8pm daily. Everyone (including families) work really hard to give good outcomes to children. The CAP unit also liaises actively with special schools, tutors, shadow teachers, vocational centres and employers. I also visited clinic of Dr Yashaswini Kamraju, who is a private practitioner and practises Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in her clinic. In my free time, I also visited Dr C R Chandrasekhar's Samadhana Counseling and Guidance Centre (which will be covered in a later blog). Here too, children are examined and counseled- free of charge. Children requiring further help are referred to dedicated CAP services close to their homes or to NIMHANS.
All in all, I had a good experience during my stay at Bangalore. I was happy to see that every type of service for children with special needs is provided by Dr Ashok's team. I wish such comprehensive care, with easy access is available in all cities. I hope to emulate the method of doing as much as possible, as soon as possible, maintaining team approach and constantly expanding scope of services.
