Govt preparing national policy on mental health: Vardhan

Government is preparing the first ever national policy on mental health and the Universal Health Assurance Mission (UHAM) will also include psychiatric well-being of the citizens.
Citing a World Health Organisation (WHO) report which predicted that about 20 per cent of India's population would suffer from some form of mental illness by 2020, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said government might open more institutions like National Institute for Mental Health and Neurological Sciences, Bangalore.
"The country's mental illness burden has grown to such proportions that the government has decided to frame the first ever official national policy on mental health," Vardhan said during his visit to the institute of Mental Health and Hospital here.

The new National Health Policy, which will come about in consultation with the states, will also have a focus on mental health, he said.
Universal Health Insurance, which will be a component of UHAM, is likely to cover those who need treatment for common mental problems.
"There has been considerable progress in treatment methods for mental patients and their recovery rates have improved. Unfortunately, society still stigmatises those who suffer from routine psychiatric problems and so their treatment is either delayed or denied," Vardhan said.

He announced that October 10 would be observed as National Mental Health Day.
"It will be a day for raising people's awareness on mental illnesses and removing the false perceptions attached to them. We want a nation that upholds the human rights of mental patients," he said.

India, he noted, has only about 3,500 psychiatrists and the government is confronted with the problem of lowering the psychiatrist to people ratio over the next decade.
National Mental Health Policy is being developed, he said, and it will involve the country's best experts in the field and cover the full range of complex issues linked to this branch of medicine.
He also announced a scheme to upgrade the hospital to an AIIMS-like super-speciality hospital for which Rs 200 crore will be made available.