A series of weekly webcasts will be conducted for public to spread awareness about a wide range of diseases, including depression, by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in collaboration with a national NGO Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI).
Any person from around the globe can log on to these webcasts by visiting the IMA's websites.
They can also post their questions online or send a text message to 9811090206, 9810118256 and have them answered live.
The webcasts will be held every Thursday between 3.30-4 PM.
The first public awareness webcast will be held in association with The Live Love Laugh Foundation - an NGO founded by actress Deepika Padukone that seeks to champion the cause of mental health in India with a focus on depression in particular.
Padma Shri Awardee Dr KK Aggarwal, Secretary General IMA, will discuss with Dr Shyam Bhatt, Psychiatrist and Trustee, of TLLLF, the importance of timely diagnosis and treatment of depression.
This initiative is an extension of IMA's weekly webcasts which are conducted for its 2.5-lakh doctors in association with healthcare startup EmediNexus with an aim of updating their knowledge of emerging health issues.
These webcasts have been attracting an audience of over 5000 doctors every week over the past six months.
"After the success of the weekly webcasts for doctors, we will be opening up the last 30 minutes of the webcasts to the general public. This will give people the unique opportunity to learn from and interact with experts from across specialities and fields.
The topic for the first public webcast will be 'Dispelling common taboos and the stigma around mental health'.
