Lok Sabha Question No. 3012 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-13
Subject: Mental Healthcare Professionals
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Hanuman Beniwal

## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRY OFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3012 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13 TH DECEMBER, 2024

## MENTALHEALTH PROFESSIONALS

## 3012. SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL:

Will the Minister of HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that India has one of the lowest number of mental healthcare professionals, per capita as compared to other countries;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the reasons for the lack of education and training programmes to prepare adequate psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers in the field of mental health; and
- (d) whether the Government has any plans to take steps to train mental health workers to adequately address the mental health problem and reduce the social stigma associated with mental illness in the country, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE (SH. PRATAPRAO JADHAV)

- (a) & (b) As per information provided by National Medical Commission (NMC), there are 13,86,145 allopathic doctors registered with the State Medical Councils (SMCs) and the National Medical Commission (NMC) as on November, 2024. Assuming 80% availability of registered allopathic doctors and around 6.14 lakh AYUSH doctors, the doctorpopulation ratio in the country is around 1:811 which is better than the WHO standard of 1:1000.

As per the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) 2016, conducted by the NIMHANS, Bengaluru in 12 States of the country, the availability of Psychiatrists in the NMHS states varied from 0.05 per lakh population in Madhya Pradesh to 1.2 per lakh population in Kerala.

- (c) & (d) The government has increased number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats. There is an increase of 102% in Medical Colleges from 387 before 2014 to 780 as of now. Further, there is an increase of 130% in MBBS seats from 51,348 before 2014 to 1,18,137 as of now and increase of 135% in PG seats from 31,185 before 2014 to 73,157 as of now.

For increasing the number of psychiatrists in the Country, Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued the Minimum Standard of Requirements for Post-Graduate Courses - 2023 (PGMSR-2023) on 15.1.2024. For starting/ increase of seats in MD (Psychiatry), the number of OPD has been brought down to 30 per day for annual intake of maximum 2 PG students with 20% increase for each additional seat. Similarly, the minimum beds required per unit for starting MD

(Psychiatry) course with 2 seats, 3 seats and 5 seats in a medical college is 8 beds, 12 beds and 20 beds respectively.

Under the tertiary care component of NMHP, 25 Centres of Excellence have been sanctioned to increase the intake of students in PG departments in mental health specialities as well as to provide tertiary level treatment facilities. Further, the Government has also supported 19 Government medical colleges/institutions to strengthen 47 PG Departments in mental health specialties.

Further, the Government of India is implementing the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in the country. The District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) component of the NMHP has been sanctioned for implementation in 767 districts for which support is provided to States/UTs through the National Health Mission. One of the components of DMHP is to provide training to specialist and nonspecialist cadres such as Medical Officers, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Nurses.

The Government is also taking steps to strengthen mental healthcare services at primary healthcare level. The Government has upgraded more than 1.73 lakh Sub Health Centres (SHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to Ayushman Arogya Mandirs. Mental health services have been added in the packages of services under Comprehensive Primary Health Care provided at these Ayushman Arogya Mandirs. Operational guidelines and training manuals for various cadres on Mental, Neurological, and Substance Use Disorders (MNS) at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs have been released under the ambit of Ayushman Bharat.

The Government is also augmenting the availability of manpower to deliver mental healthcare services in the underserved areas of the country by providing online training courses to various categories of general healthcare medical and para medical professionals through the Digital Academies, established since 2018, at the three Central Mental Health Institutes namely National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur, Assam, and Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi. The total number of professionals trained under Digital Academies are 42,488.

As per information received from Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), at present, 66 institutions/universities are offering M.Phil Clinical Psychology course. The Council has launched B.Sc. Clinical Psychology (Hons.) course from the academic session 2024- 25 and granted approval to 19 universities to offer this course for developing more professionals in clinical psychology.

Besides the above, the Government has launched a 'National Tele Mental Health Programme' on 10th October, 2022, to further improve access to quality mental health counselling and care services in the country. As on 22.11.2024, 36 States/ UTs have set up 53 Tele MANAS Cells and have started tele mental health services. More than 15,95,000 calls have been handled on the helpline number.

The Government has also launched Tele MANAS Mobile Application on the occasion of World Mental Health Day - October 10, 2024. Tele-MANAS Mobile Application is a comprehensive mobile platform that has been developed to provide support for mental health issues ranging from well being to mental disorders.