patna in an alarming trend that has emerged as the world observed mental health day on thursday bihar has been witnessing an annual increase of around 30 in cases of people suffering from mental disorders since 2012 according to the state health department officialsan increment of 30 in the number of patients with mental disorders is seen every year at the koilwar mental hospital pramod kumar singh incharge director at koilwar mental hospital told toi on thursday he added that the hospitals outpatient department has already registered more than 50000 cases this yearsingh who is also the head of psychiatry department at patna medical college and hospital pmch added that the increase in the number of cases of people suffering from mental disorders can be attributed to more awareness and people developing the trust in seeking medical help for mental healththe opd at koilwar mental hospital used to get only around 1400015000 patients every year till the year 2012 he said which has been steadily increasing by around 30 every year the koilwar hospital started functioning from the campus of an old tuberculosis hospital after the state government issued a notification in 2005 for running the mental hospital and indoor services from the campussingh said to accommodate the rising cases of mental disorders in the state a modern hospital is being constructed on the campus which will have a total capacity of 540 beds but will begin with 272 beds in the first phasethe new hospital is being constructed as per the needs of patients suffering from mental illness and we expect the first phase of the hospital to become functional in two and a half year he addedpramod said around 70 to 90 people also visit psychiatry department of pmch even indira gandhi institute of medical sciences igims and nalanda medical college and hospital igims have psychiatry departments where 50 to 80 people visit daily on an averageapart from government institutes many people also go to private facilities singh said adding over one crore people in the state are suffering from various mental problems he also claimed there were 70 psychiatrists in the state and this number was less than the requirement a seminar on mental health was organised at the magadh mahila college on thursday on the occasion of world mental health day during which the students were given online counselling by doctors from bangalorebased national institute of mental health and neurosciences and were told about the symptoms and solutions state programme officer for mental health n k sinha asked the students to discuss the issue related to mental health openly with their parents and friends the government is trying to organise mental health programmes in all districts of the state he saidtalking to toi sinha said mental health is a neglected issue and kids are under immense pressure now a days and it was mostly because of parents pressuring them to focus on studiesa child may not be very good in academics but can be a good