Mental Health Care In India

ABSTRAT:

The quality of mental health care in different countries is affected by different factors. These factors could be social, economic, political, cultural, legal and even historical. Developed countries with large financial resources, have the ability to implement health care facilities in this field in a far more effective manner than developing countries. In developing countries such as India resource allocation is usually minimal for mental health care, and it is a sector that is usually neglected. In India several attempts have been made to mainstream mental health care through various policies and programmes. For the first time, the Mental Health Care Bill provides a definition for mental illness. It is described as “a disorder

At this time there were no institutions that people could go to if they suffered from mental illness. With the coming of the British, asylums were formed. These were initially for the Europeans who suffered from mental illnesses. Later however institutions were established for both Indians and Europeans. At this time the public health sector was still neglected. After independence however rapid progress was made in the field of health care and several mental health care facilities were set up. In 1954 the ‘All India Institute of Mental Health’ was set up in Bangalore. Training was provided to people and post graduate institutes for mental care were established. Related disciplines were also given focus and the number of physiatrists also increased in number. In the late 1950’s both outpatient and inpatient units of physciatry opened in general hospitals and people could avail the treatment facilities. All big hospitals now had some facilities for treatment in this field, and private practices also began to flourish. People were encouraged to seek treatment when required because they could carry on with their normal lives while receiving treatment. This also revoked the social stigma that was attached to the concept of receiving care in this

In developing countries this is more difficult than in developed countries. The quality of the programme, socio economic conditions are not feasible for policy implementation to the highest degree. Poverty among Indian people, particularly in the rural areas, results in people not being able to afford mental health services in India. Impoverishment also leads to an increase in the number of cases of mental illness that emerge due to stress and anxiety disorders. There is also poor infrastructure in this field and major source of funds is the out of pocket expenditures that are incurred by the patients and their family members. States which are developing don’t allocate a separate budget for the implementation of policies and programmes. However within the Tenth Five year plan (2002-2007) the Government of India did ensure a certain amount of funds to be put aside for this purpose. The 2010World Economic Forum Reprt warns that mental illness poses the as the second most severe threat to the global economy. In India training and development of mental health services will enable it to flourish to higher degree and maximisation of community resources will enable this as well. If the inefficiencies in the implementation mechanism are dealt with and the resources are distributed in low income countries equitably, then the