Government launches National Mental Health Policy

The first ever National Mental Health Policy was launched today in an attempt to provide universal psychiatry care to the population, 20 per cent of which are likely to suffer some form of mental illness by 2020.

The policy, unveiled by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, seeks to include mental treatment at primary health care at a time when India is estimated to have only about 3,500 psychiatrists and over 50 per cent of the mentally ill have no access to health care.