Psychiatric education in India: need for reforms

The burden of psychiatric illness in the country is very high. The progress of a country is linked closely with the mental health of its individuals. Mental health and poverty form a vicious circle and there cannot be development without good mental health. Promoting mental health is thus very critical and this cannot happen without quality psychiatric training in the country. There are very few studies addressing the quality of psychiatric training in the country. Though there is a recent increase in the number of medical colleges offering psychiatric training with the mushrooming of the private institutions, the quality and standards of psychiatric education is not uniform in all of them. There is an urgent need for reforming postgraduate and undergraduate training in the country. There are definite pitfalls but there is a scope for improvement also.