Mental Health Care Gap Essay

Need for services and efforts to reduce the treatment gap- It is estimated that about 5 crore for common mental disorders (7) and about 2 crore individuals in the country need treatment for severe mental disorders. 30 lakh people need long-term care, and between 30 and 35 lakh need hospitalisation at any given time. Only about 29,000 beds exist in both government and private sectors. There is a huge treatment gap with nearly 50-90% of persons not being able to access services.

Human resource: scarcity of specialists- Even after nearly six decades of indigenous post-graduate training there is an acute shortage of psychiatrists. To have a desirable ratio of 1 psychiatrist for every 1 lakh population, we need to train a further 7000 psychiatrists (7). But problem is nearly

Human resources in the non-governmental sector
In the early 2000s, there were about 50 non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) throughout the country working in the area of mental health
(excluding those working in the area of mental handicap and commercially run long-stay rehabilitation centres), which again represents a motivated but small human resource pool (19).

A poorly informed public
Very little information is available to the public on any of the issues relating to mental health, whether it is on mental well being, protecting against depression or identifying symptoms of serious mental illness. They are even less aware of treatment facilities and their rights. Without information, there is no advocacy. Without advocacy, there is not enough demand for services and system accountability to provide equitable and good quality mental health care. Stigma and misconceptions related to mental illness are present among sufferers, their families as well as among untrained service providers.

Systems for effective service delivery
Mental health has always suffered from a lack of financial resources in