Survey finds 27.8% UG medical students suffering from mental health issues

Of the 37,962 participants surveyed by the the National Medical Commission (NMC), 16.2% UG students and 31.23% PG students have suicidal ideas.

The reasons for such mental health disorders include the pressure of paying educational loans and debt (32.7%), students facing ragging (18%), sub-par hostel facilities (41.6%), and lack of privacy (33.7%).

The regulator a formed a task force to suggest remedial measures. It conducted an online survey to understand the mental health status of medical students and faculties. A total of 25,590 UG, 5,337 PG and 7,035 faculty members responded to the online survey.

Mental health status of UG students

As far as UG students are concerned, mental health conditions have been diagnosed in 7,115 (27.8%) of them, with 3,780 (14.8%) having one condition, 1,851 (7.2%) having two, and 1,045 (4.1%) having three conditions.

Thoughts of self-harm or suicide in the last 12 months were reported by 4,139 (16.2%) students, with 1,305 (5.1%) seeking professional help. Faculty or mentors are seen as “extremely unsupportive" by 4,664 (18.2%).

Mental health status of PG students

Among PG students, 1,667 (31.23%) disclosed experiencing suicidal ideas. Moreover, 564 (10.57%) PG students indicated making plans to attempt suicide within the last year. Additionally, 237 (4.44%) PG students admitted to attempting suicide in the past year.

Around 2,486 (9.7%) UG students confirmed ragging experiences. A significant number of PG students 930 (18%) also reported that the problem of ragging was still there and hurt them. A total of 1,425 (27%) reported experiencing harassment from senior PG students in clinical settings, while 1,669 (31%) reported similar experiences from faculty as well as senior residents.

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A relatively high 42% of students are uncomfortable seeking help, highlighting barriers such as stigma or lack of trust in the available services, which NMC said must be addressed to ensure all students can receive the support they need.

In India,171,000 suicides were recorded in 2022 and a suicide rate of 12.4 per 100,000 population as per the National Crime Record Bureau Report 2023. There have been escalating mental health issues and increasing suicide rates in higher educational institutions.

In the past five years, 122 medical students (64 undergraduate and 58 postgraduate students) have died by suicide as reported by the NMC, which means an estimated 25-26 medical student committed suicide every year.

Experts said that mental health illness in doctors is not new, but is only being talked about now due to awareness.

“Health of a healer is important and hence mental health of doctors should be taken care of. Ultimately, these medicals students are going to become future doctors. They should prioritize their health before the patient’s health. However, there used to be lot of stigma attached and lack of awareness. In past too, this issue was persistent, but nobody used to talk. Today awareness has increased, people want to talk about it, number of suicide deaths and mental health issues in doctors have increased. This could be due to academic challenge, stressful environment, interpersonal difficulties, poor coping mechanism, social media etc, “said Dr Rajesh Sagar, Professor of Psychiatry Department at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS-Delhi).

Task force recommendations

The NMC-appointed task force has recommended medical colleges put in place policies for creating a safe working environment for medical students including a gate-keeping programme to identify high-risk individuals, limiting the workload to 72 hours per week, helping students get at least seven hours of daily sleep, fair and unbiased grading systems, setting up an e-complaint portal at NMC, anti-ragging measures, awareness campaigns, counselling services, staff/students clinic, abolishing bond policy etc.

For students with mental illness and attempted suicide, the college has to create supportive and inclusive environment, it said. The head of psychiatry is tasked with evaluating whether a student's mental health condition may compromise patient care in a clinical setting or pose a direct threat to the student's own safety.

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“Provide Accessible Mental Health Services, constitution of a mental health and wellbeing committee, support academic and maintaining confidentiality. Fitness to Practice Protocol for medical student with mental illness," said the report.