Srinagar, 27 Feb: In a moment of pride for the Department of Psychiatry at SKIMS Medical College, Dr Insha Arjumand, a Postgraduate Alumni, has brought distinction to the institution by winning the Best Paper presentation in Poster paper category at the 19th National Conference of Biological Psychiatry (IABP) which was held on 22nd and 23rd Feb 2025 at Gurugram, Haryana in collaboration with prestigious organisations like Indian Psychiatric Society & Delhi Psychiatric Society.
The award was presented for her paper titled ‘Prevalence of Hepatitis C Viral infection among Opioid Dependent Injectable Drug Users”,’ which was conducted under the guidance of Dr Abdul Majid, Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry (now the Advanced Centre for Mental Health & Addiction Medicine), SKIMS Medical College, Bemina, Srinagar, J&K. Opioid Addiction has been on rise in last few years in Jammu & Kashmir which has led to increase in prevalence of Hepatitis C Viral infections among these substance users making the scenario difficult for patients, families, health care providers and policymakers.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Department of Psychiatry SKIMS Medical College is involved in catering to Mental Health Issues and Addiction problems among the patient population belonging to most of the Kashmir districts, Chenab Valley and UT of Ladakh. In addition, the department is actively involved in academic activities/research, Community-oriented programs by getting involved with Educational institutions for awareness programs, NGOs like VMS for psychosocial intervention among needy patient populations, etc.
Dr Majid thanked Higher authorities in the administration and Director SKIMS Soura & EOSG of J&K, Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ganie, Dr Shariq A Masoodi, Dean Medical faculty, Dr Shafa A Deva, Medical Superintendent SKIMS Medical College for the support in the form of manpower and infrastructure provided to make the creation of Advanced Centre for Mental Health & Addiction Medicine a reality which has started giving dividends in the form of better patient care with wide range of services available.
