Mental Health Survey by WHO

A recent mental health survey reported by Dr RS Murthy and conducted by the World Health Organization states that in India there is allocation of only 0.25 beds for psychiatric disorders per 10,000 citizens. Further, India is also among the countries which spends less than one percent of its central health budget on mental health-related activities. Exactly, it spends about 0.83 percent of the total budget allocations on mental healthcare. The availability of mental health professionals is about 0.4 doctors for every 10,000 people.

In response to this, the Union health ministry, blames the states for not implementing the National Mental Health Policy, framed way back in 1982. It also criticises the States for not forming a licensing body for mental homes, which would keep vigil on the facilities and the standard of treatment in mental hospitals in the country.

The Secretary of the Central Mental Health Authority, Neena Bohra claims that most mental hospitals are in extremely poor conditions all over the country. The above body, in an effort to ensure hygienic conditions, prepared a list of minimum health and hygiene standards where all aspects of treatment and rehabilitation, like the gap between two beds and other such criterion, were mentioned. This revealed that in most instances States who have formed the body have just identified a licensing authority of their choice on paper but hardly anything of substance have been achieved. Even performance of states like Punjab, Delhi and West Bengal leave a lot to be desired. And the others are too ignorant and just do not care.

Forty percent of countries in the world have no fixed mental health policy and 25 percent have no legislation in the field of mental health. The WHO report also suggests that more than 680 million people, the majority of whom are in Africa and Asia, have access to less than one psychiatrist per million. This is the case in large countries with populations over 100 million, like Bangladesh and Nigeria.

Source: WHO slams Indian mental healthcare, May 13, 2002, Times of India, Kolkata