Hyderabad: Safe City Talks 2nd series commence

Hyderabad: As part of 'Safe City Talks,' the second series titled 'The Pandemic and Its Impact on Mental Health' was held virtually on Friday. Speaking at the occasion, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said that the is a centrally funded scheme aimed at strengthening infrastructure, technology and law enforcement mechanism centred around women and child safety. The CP noted, "This project is being implemented in all three police Commissionerates and its various components include CCTV cameras, mobile toilets, pelican signals, transit dorms, forensic labs, new Bharosa centres, 30 new family counselling centres etc." The event is a part of the series of talks with experts and topics revolving around overall wellbeing of society, stated the officer.

Shikha Goel, the Additional CP (Crimes & SIT), said that though various awareness programmes were undertaken related to mental health, still there was a stigma attached to it in the society. She added, "The discussions related to mental health and depression shall not be dealt privately and there is nothing to be ashamed of it. The police counselling centres also reported an increase in domestic violence cases during pandemic and it is believed that it could be mostly due to lockdown."

Dr MS Reddy, Director of Asha Hospital, spoke about the impact of the pandemic on the mental health and the various steps that individuals and organisations need to take to ensure prevention as well as prompt treatment of patients. He reiterated the need to treat mental illness on par with any other physical or somatic illness.

Himal Tewari, Chief HR Officer of TATA Power Group, gave an insight of how the corporate world was dealing with issues arising out of the WFH (work from home) system.