Excessive workload, long working hours, and inadequate redressal mechanisms are a few of the many factors affecting the mental health of medical students in India.
Recently, a Right to Information Act (RTI) response by the National Medical Commission (NMC) revealed that as many as 122 medical students, including 64 MBBS students and 58 postgraduate medical students died by suicide in the last five years.
Now, to tackle concerns related to the increasing number of student suicides in medical colleges across India, the NMC has constituted a National Task Force to analyse factors contributing to increasing suicides and propose evidence-based strategies for improving the mental health of the students.
Speaking about the task force, Dr Yogender Malik, member of the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) and Head of the Media Division at the NMC, said that it is a “genuine step by the NMC to improve mental health and well-being of medical students.”
Here is an excerpt from our conversation with Dr Yogender Malik to better understand how the task force will help curb the number of suicides in medical colleges:
NMC has taken the initiative to form a national task force to look into student suicides in medical colleges. Please tell us more about the task force and how it would function.
A few months back, the NMC asked every medical college to submit a report on the number of suicides in the last five years.
There are a number of Psychiatry journals on what the causes could be behind the suicides. We have also been releasing guidelines based on the general pointers that we know. Now, we want to study specifically why medical students are choosing to die by suicide including both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students. We also want to see if there is a trend, if any particular department has more suicides or if few colleges are reporting more cases.
That is why this 15-member committee has been constituted by the anti-ragging cell of the NMC. We expect the committee to analyse the data that we have received and also visit a few of the medical colleges and based on this, a list of recommendations and a comprehensive report will be submitted to the NMC on whether any policy-level changes are required in the current NMC regulations.
We will take regulatory steps accordingly. This is a genuine step by the NMC to improve the mental health and well-being of medical students.
We are planning to have virtual interactions starting next week which will finalise what action plans are needed to tackle suicides.
Recent RTI response by NMC shows more than 120 student suicides in medical colleges. What are the main concern areas and how does the commission plan to tackle these?
So far, we only know how many students have died by suicide in medical colleges based on the data collected by NMC. We cannot estimate the reasons behind these suicides based on the reports yet and that is why we have constituted the task force.
Students and medical associations have highlighted that many medical colleges still do not have proper grievance redressal systems and counselling services for students. How can these gaps be addressed in medical education?
There is a mandate for every medical institute to have grievance redressal mechanisms for the students. I think most medical colleges have grievance redressal bodies present but they might not be functional or sufficient. In the task force, we will definitely place stress on counselling and grievance redressal based on the recommendations submitted by the committee.
Medical education is a high-stress field. In fact, long working hours are said to be a major factor contributing to excessive stress among medical students. Are there any mechanisms in medical colleges to help students relieve stress?
Every medical college has a Department of Psychiatry, they have trained psychologists and professionals. The important point is how to utilise the resources and how to identify the students at risk within an institute.
We have to figure out how to make these resources more accessible to the students and how to convince the students to reach out to their mentors.
While policy-level changes are important to address this problem, what steps can the students and professors take on a personal level to tackle stress and suicidal thoughts?
NMC recently released guidelines for PG medical students mandating flexible working hours and sufficient rest. The medical colleges should allow students to have some time for themselves and students should utilise that time to get adequate sleep. When they are off-duty, they should avoid screen time.
They can also focus on activities like yoga and meditation. I advise them to reach out to their peers if they are feeling stressed or having any negative thoughts. There is also a ‘Mentor-Mentee programme’ in medical colleges where the students can reach out to their mentors and seniors and talk about their concerns.
In the end, if these steps are not helping an individual, he/she is advised to seek professional help.
The RTI response by NMC also shows an alarmingly high number of students dropping out of medical colleges. What do you think is the reason, especially since students put in years of effort to get into medical colleges?
The number of dropouts in medical colleges is a separate concern. It doesn’t necessarily have to be because of mental health or stress-related reasons. Many times, students drop out because they do not get their choice of department, their choice or college or subject. This is especially common among PG students.
We will definitely look into the high numbers of dropouts in medical colleges too. Right now, our priority is to tackle student suicides.
