P. Krishnakumar, who took mental healthcare to common people, passes away

P. Krishnakumar, Director of IMHANS, passed away at 63, known for revolutionizing mental healthcare in north Kerala.

P. Krishnakumar, Director, Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), who passed away here on Saturday, played a pivotal role in making mental healthcare accessible to the common people in north Kerala districts. He also focussed on child and adolescent mental healthcare.

Dr. Krishnakumar was 63. The death happened due to heart attack in the early hours at his residence in Thondayad.

He was born in Kodolippuram, a village near Mattannur in Kannur district, to a teacher couple, who were also social activists. In a recent article, Dr. Krishnakumar reminisced that the idea of becoming a doctor struck him in early childhood as a means to help others. The books that he read from the village library and the discussions there shaped his perspective, apart from the social activities of his mother.

Father Damien, a 19th-century Roman Catholic priest from Belgium who worked tirelessly for leprosy patients on the Molokai islands in the Kingdom of Hawai, motivated him in no small measure. Another influence was a local doctor who frequently walked around 5 km from his place to reach Kodolippuram to treat people there. “To become a doctor was not my ambition, but it was a decision. There was no other path before me,” he wrote.

He studied at KPC High School, Pattanoor, Kannur, St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri, Government Medical College, Kozhikode, and the Madras Medical College. His stint as a medical student in Kozhikode was marked by active campaigns against unscientific practices in the profession. He joined the Paediatrics department at the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, as a lecturer in 1998 after completing a postgraduate course in paediatric psychiatry. When IMHANS was set up, he was appointed its first director in 2006. He was instrumental in developing it from a two-roomed facility on the premises of the Government Mental Health Centre at Kuthiravattom to a Centre of Excellence with its own campus next to the medical college hospital.

A community mental health programme he conceived for north Kerala districts was later picked up and launched as the district mental health programme by the Directorate of Health Services. The community development disability project launched by IMHANS was later renamed and taken over by the government as the ‘Anuyathra’ project. The other notable ventures were the mobile intervention project for children with autism and a tribal mental healthcare project. Dr. Krishnakumar officially retired from service in May 2023. However, the government called him back six months later to make use of his expertise.

Dr. Krishnakumar is survived by his wife Geeta Govindaraj, Professor, School of Family Health Studies, Kozhikode, and son, Akshay, an engineer in the U.S. His last rites will be performed at the Mavoor Road crematorium on January 27.