Lok Sabha Question No. 2282 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-01
Subject: Improving Mental Healthcare
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Devusinh Chauhan

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2282 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01 ST AUGUST, 2025

## IMPROVING MENTALHEALTHCARE

## 2282. SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN:

Will the Minister of HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to improve mental healthcare in the country;
- (b) the mechanism by which the Government proposes to increase the number of mental health professionals;
- (c) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to reduce the stigma around mental health; and
- (d) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to make mental healthcare more accessible in rural areas?

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

- (a) The Government 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. Facilities made available under DMHP at the Community Health Centre(CHC) and Primary Health Centre(PHC) levels, include outpatient services, assessment, counselling/ psycho-social interventions, continuing care and support to persons with severe mental disorders, drugs, outreach services, ambulance services etc. In addition to above services there is a provision of 10 bedded in-patient facility at the District level.
- (b) 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.

As per information received from Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), at present, 69 institutions/universities have been approved by RCI to conduct courses in Clinical Psychology such as M.Phil., Professional Diploma, Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology), and 9 institutions/universities have been approved by RCI to conduct courses in Rehabilitation Psychology such as M.Phil. (Rehabilitation Psychology). The Council has also launched two more programmes in Clinical Psychology, i.e. B.Sc. (Clinical Psychology) and M.A. (Clinical Psychology) from the academic session 2024- 25.

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.

- (c) To generate awareness among masses about mental illness, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities and awareness generation activities in the community, schools, workplaces, with community involvement are an integral part of NMHP.

The District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) is implemented under the National Mental Health Programme in 767 districts of the country to detect, manage and treat mental illness with the major components of counselling in schools and colleges, work place stress management, life skills training, suicide prevention services and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities for generation of awareness and removal of stigma associated with Mental Illness.

- (d) The Government is also taking steps to strengthen mental healthcare services at primary healthcare level. The Government has upgraded more than 1.77 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.

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 17.07.2025, 36 States/ UTs have set up 53 Tele MANAS Cells and have started tele mental health services. More than 23,82,000 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. The Government has also launched the video consultation facility under Tele-MANAS, as another upgrade to the already existing audio calling facility.

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