ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a): The Government conducted the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) of India through the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru in 2016 as per which the prevalence of mental disorders in adults over the age of 18 years is about 10.6%. The treatment gap for mental disorders ranged between 70% to 92% for different disorders.
(b): To address the burden of mental disorders, the Government of India is implementing the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP). The Government is supporting implementation of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) under NMHP in 692 districts of the country with the objectives to:
(i) Provide suicide prevention services, work place stress management, life skills training and counselling in schools and colleges.
(ii) Provide mental health services including prevention, promotion and long-term continuing care at different levels of district healthcare delivery system.
(iii) Augment institutional capacity in terms of infrastructure, equipment and human resource for mental healthcare.
(iv) Promote community awareness and participation in the delivery of mental healthcare services.
With a view to augment the availability of qualified manpower in field of mental health, the Government, under the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP), is implementing manpower development schemes for establishment of Centres of Excellence and strengthening/ establishment of Post Graduate (PG) Departments in mental health specialties. Till date, support has been provided for establishment of 25 Centres of Excellence and strengthening/ establishment of 47 Post Graduate (PG) Departments in four mental health specialties viz. (i) Psychiatry, (ii) Clinical Psychology, (iii) Psychiatric Nursing, and (iv) Psychiatric Social Work, in the country.
The Government is also augmenting the availability of manpower to deliver mental healthcare services in the underserved areas of the country by providing online training courses to various categories of general healthcare medical and para medical professionals through the Digital Academies established at the three Central Mental Health Institutes namely National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur, Assam, and Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi.
Realizing the impact that COVID-19 may have on the mental health of the people, the Government has taken a number of initiatives to provide psychosocial support during COVID-19. These initiatives include
(i) Setting up of a 24/7 helpline to provide psychosocial support, by mental health professionals, to the entire affected population, divided into different target groups viz children, adult, elderly, women and healthcare workers.
(ii) Issuance of guidelines/ advisories on management of mental health issues, catering to different segments of the society.
(iii) Advocacy through various media platforms in the form of creative and audio-visual materials on managing stress and anxiety, and promoting an environment of support and care for all.
(iv) Issuance of detailed guidelines by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru- "Mental Health in the times of COVID-19 Pandemic - Guidance for General Medical and Specialized Mental Health Care Settings".
(v) All the guidelines, advisories and advocacy material can be accessed on Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website under “Behavioural Health – Psychosocial helpline” (https://www.mohfw.gov.in/).
(vi) Online capacity building of health workers by NIMHANS in providing psychosocial support and training through (iGOT)-Diksha platform.
(c): The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 came into force w.e.f. 29th May, 2018 along with the Rules framed thereunder. The Act aims at protection and promotion of the rights of persons with mental illness during the delivery of health care in institutions and in the community. It also ensures health care, treatment and rehabilitation of persons with mental illness within a rights based framework to achieve the greatest public health good. Rights of mentally ill person to access mental healthcare, live in the community, protection from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, equality and non-discrimination, legal aid, make complaints about deficiencies in provision of services, etc are some of the novel features of the Act:
(d): Public health and hospitals is a State subject ¬¬and implementation of the provisions of the Act is primarily the responsibility of State/ UT Governments.
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