Mental health day: need more psychiatrists and support system, say experts

Healthcare experts on Sunday underlined the need for more psychiatrists and developing a support system to tackle mental health issues which they said worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the eve of World Mental Health Day, they said the problem has grown rapidly and Covid contributed in bringing the topic out of the closet.

Poonam Muttreja, executive director, Population Foundation of India, noted that although Covid contributed to bringing the topic of mental health out of the closet, the current crisis started developing well before the pandemic.


"Mental health problems have been growing rapidly over the last few decades, but our infrastructure has remained woefully inadequate," she told PTI.

The World Health Organization reported in 2017 that there were about 9,000 psychiatrists practising in India, which equates to 0.75% per lakh of people.

WHO estimates that the ideal ratio is three psychiatrists for every lakh of people. Similarly, India has 1.93 mental health care professionals per 10,000 residents.