A few weeks ago, I was interviewing a for a popular Indian medical news portal , and was grabbed by a remarkable point that he made. Though the interview was mainly concerning the state of mental health care in India, Dr. stressed greatly on the role of primary healthcare in providing a foundation to effective psychiatric care, and the criminal under-emphasis that we see on primary care in India today.
For me, it was like a trip back to the time when I penned a series of articles on the importance of family physicians in our healthcare system. He also expressed his disappointment over the fact that only two institutions in the country have thus far expressed their interest in enrolling for a PG course in family medicine. One of the central aspects of the primary healthcare model is community involvement, which means that the community participates actively in the provision of it's own…
