Madras HC tells Centre to increase funds for mental healthcare
MADURAI: Shocked by the alarming results shown in various studies that millions of Indians are suffering from mental health disorders, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court appealed to the Centre to allot more funds for mental healthcare and increase the number of mental healthcare institutions.
Justices N Kirubakaran (now retired) and B Pugalendhi, while disposing of a PIL filed by one KR Raja seeking mental healthcare facilities in prisons, observed, “WHO has stated that India is the most depressed country in the world. The Centre and State governments ought to make a comprehensive action plan to identify patients with mental illness through periodical surveys and give appropriate treatment to them.”
The court also felt only a very negligible amount was being allotted and spent by the government towards mental health care. The Mental Health Force is also low in the country with about 9,000 psychiatrists (one psychiatrist for every one lakh people), they further noted. Hence, every medical college should have a Department and a PG course in Psychiatry, the judges observed.
The Centre should establish more institutions like NIMHANS, at least one in each zone of the country, they added. Efforts should be made to see that every taluk headquarters hospital has a psychiatrist and people should be sensitised about the availability of insurance coverage for mental illness treatment, the judges said.