The country’s first ever Mental Health Policy was unveiled today by  Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan who called upon the country men to change the perception towards mental illness.

The policy’s objective is to provide universal access to mental health care by enhancing understanding of mental health and strengthening leadership in the mental health sector at all levels. It will have a pro-poor orientation because only the creamy layer of society presently has access to mental healthcare in India today, the minister stated while unveiling the policy.

Dr Vardhan said that the policy is backed up by the “Mental Health Action Plan 365”.   It clearly spells out the specific roles to be played by the Central government, the state governments, local bodies and civil society organisations. He also released two booklets published by the Directorate General of Health Services: “A Training Module of Essential Psychiatry in General Practice” and “A Guide to Psychiatry in General Practice”.

“We will move the Mental Health Bill in Parliament because the earlier effort made in 1987 ran aground due to a number of defects. This time a policy group worked dedicatedly to develop its recommendations. I thank them for recognising that the vast majority of the mentally ill people in India live in the villages and there is literally no care available for them,” the Minister said.

Dr Vardhan pointed out that earlier laws governing the mentally ill, the Indian Lunatic Asylum Act, 1858, and Indian Lunacy Act, 1912, ignored the human rights aspect and were concerned only with custodial issues. After Independence it took 31 years for India to attempt the first enactment, which resulted another nine years later in the Mental Health Act, 1987. But due to many defects in this Act, it never came into force in any of the states and union territories.

Remarking on the significance of National Mental Health Day, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “It is an occasion 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. Also, it will be an occasion to generate awareness against stigmatisation of people with mental illnesses and highlight the symptoms and remedial opportunities for those with depression, schizophrenia, bipolar syndrome, etc.”