Annual Report 2009-2010 in each unit per year. It was further informed that the above decision of the Council has been communicated to the Government of India for initiating the required action. The NHRC is of the view that the new proposal will allow 1-2 additional seats in the Post-Graduate courses which is a step in the right direction. 6.16 The Commission’s intent is to equip doctors with the knowledge of psychiatry. It is of the definite view that in the light of inadequate human resources in the field of mental health, it is essential that whatever human resources are otherwise available, their capacities should be built up to the extent that they are able to deal with problems relating to mental health. It has addressed this issue to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare as well as to the Medical Council of India. In response, the Ministry has informed to the Commission that in a meeting of the Central Mental Health Authority, it has been decided to prepare a proposal for introduction of compulsory medical examination in psychiatry as a part of medicine examination in both theory and clinical examination. 6.17 As a part of the mandate given to it by the Supreme Court in 1997, the Commission has been involved in overseeing the functioning of three mental hospitals at – Ranchi, Agra and Gwalior. On receipt of the Channabasavanna report, the Commission expanded its role by taking the responsibility of monitoring all the mental hospitals in the country. In this context, the Chairperson, Members, Special Rapporteurs and senior officers of the NHRC have been visiting mental hospitals across the country to know the conditions of the inmates therein. With a view to ascertain the status of compliance of its recommendation, the Commission also decided to organize five Regional Review Meetings on Mental Health for Northern, Eastern, Western, Southern and North-Eastern Regions. During the year under review, it organized four such meetings. In these Review Meetings, senior officials from the specified States dealing with the subject of mental health, Directors of Mental Health Hospitals from the regions concerned, officials from the Union Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Social Justice & Empowerment, State Human Rights Commissions, Medical Council of India, Members of NHRC’s Core Group on Mental Health and representatives of civil society organizations were invited for participation. These meetings mainly focused on the following four issues: • • • • Overall conditions prevailing in mental hospitals. Status of implementation concerning the District Mental Health Programme. Status of proposals concerning mental health hospitals and district mental health hospitals pending with the State Government for augmentation of facilities. Steps, if any, proposed for modifications. 6.18 The States/Union Territories covered in the four Regional Review Meetings were as follows: • 90 The States covered in the Eastern Regional Review Meeting were Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Chha�isgarh. The meeting was convened at the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences, Ranchi in Jharkhand on 5 June 2009. NHRC