Team Herald
MAPUSA: Mapusa Municipal Council in association with COOJ Mental Health Foundation celebrated World Health Day on at the old municipal building, on Saturday.
Dr Peter Castelino, psychiatrist and director of COOJ, spoke on depression after screening a short film on the subject.
Dr Peter Castelino said, “Depression is a non-communicational disease and a leading cause of disability. The national rate of suicide is 11.2 per lakh and in Goa itself the rate of suicide is almost 15.8 per lakh population. Also Goa does not have any suicide precaution policy. There are district mental health programmes, but they are available only in South district hospital and not in the North.”
He said that COOJ is running ‘Yellow Program’ which is colour of suicide prevention with the aim to educate the people on suicide that it is preventable and train people to recognise the risk of suicide and to take measure to reduce the same.
