Himanshu Roy, a senior and renowned Mumbai police officer and former chief of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, reportedly shot himself on Friday. A suicide note has been recovered.
The IPS officer was battling cancer that was reportedly at an advanced stage. Mumbai Police has said that Roy was suffering from depression due to his illness.
Mental healthcare is a huge part of treatment for patients suffering from debilitating illnesses. Dr Sameer Kaul, Head of Cancer Surgery, Apollo Hospital, says that psychological support is of utmost importance in any disease whether it’s terminal or not. Palliative care, when treatment is over and there’s nothing more that can be done, is not the only time when we should focus on mental health in a patient.
Throughout the treatment, right from diagnosis, you need psychological support and therapy. Any disease whether it’s terminal or not affects the patient. But psychological effects are most pronounced in patients with illnesses like cancer, where the battle is long and tough and has a perception of ending in fatality.Dr Sameer Kaul, Oncologist, Delhi