The Government of India preferred legislative lever of public policy over economic incentives, funding support, public awareness campaigns levers by enacting the Mental Health Care Act (MHCA) in the year 2017. MHCA 2017 mandates for mental healthcare and services for persons with mental illness and to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of such persons during delivery of mental healthcare and services. MHCA 2017 is supposed to bring socio-cultural and structural changes to mental health issues in India. This article seeks to identify the various issues and challenges in the implementation of the Act at the macro level, specifically in the areas of prevention of mental morbidities, treatment gaps, reintegration and rehabilitation of the patient. It also suggests the way forward to remove the identified barriers.
AlegríaM., Mulvaney-DayN., WooM., TorresM., GaoS., & OddoV. (2007). Correlates of past-year mental health service use among Latinos: Results from the National Latino and Asian American study. American Journal of Public Health, 97(1), 76–83. 10.2105/ajph.2006.087197
2.
AshrafN.A. (2018, April3). The news minute | Health. The News Minute. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/there-are-less-4000-psychiatrists-india-medical-education-blame-78952
3.
BalamuruganG., RadhakrishnanG., & VijayaraniM. (2019). Models and roles in national mental health programme. Indian Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 16(1).
4.
ChakrabortyK. (2018). District mental health program–Moving beyond Bellary model. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(4), 510–511.
5.
DesaiT.A. (2004). Urban mental health services in India: How complete or incomplete?Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 46(3), 195.
6.
DuffyR.M., & KellyB.D. (2019). India’s Mental Healthcare Act, 2017: Content, context, controversy. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 62, 169–178.
7.
DuttaS. (2020). Mental health. World Bank. Retrieved April2, 2021, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/mental-health
8.
GalhotraA., & MishraA. (2018). Mental Healthcare Act 2017: Need to wait and watch. International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research, 8(2), 67. 10.4103/ijabmr.ijabmr_328_17
9.
GargK., KumarC.N., & ChandraP.S. (2019). Number of psychiatrists in India: Baby steps forward, but a long way to go. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(1), 104–105.
10.
GauthamM.S., GururajG., VargheseM., BenegalV., RaoG.N., KokaneA., ChavanB.S., DalalP.K., RamD., PathakK., & Lenin SinghR.K. (2020). The National Mental Health Survey of India (2016): Prevalence, socio-demographic correlates and treatment gap of mental morbidity. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(4), 361–372. 10.1177/0020764020907941
11.
Gopalrao SwaminathA.E., RaoR., KumarK.V.K., & KumarC.N. (2019). Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and homeless persons with mental illness in India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(Suppl. 4), S768.
12.
GurejeO., HollinsS., BotbolM., JavedA., JorgeM., OkechV., RibaM., TrivediJ., SartoriusN., & JenkinsR. (2009). Report of the WPA Task Force on Brain Drain. World Psychiatry, 8(2), 115–118. 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2009.tb00225.x
13.
JacobK.S., SharanP., MirzaI., Garrido-CumbreraM., SeedatS., MariJ.J., SreenivasV., & SaxenaS. (2007). Mental health systems in countries: Where are we now?The Lancet, 370(9592), 1061–1077.
14.
MagnussonR. (2017). Advancing the Right to Health: The vital role of law, World Health Organization, Switzerland.
15.
MathS.B., & SrinivasarajuR. (2010). Indian psychiatric epidemiological studies: Learning from the past. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 52(Suppl. 1), S95.
16.
MathS.B., BasavarajuV., HariharaS.N., GowdaG.S., ManjunathaN., KumarC.N., & GowdaM. (2019). Mental Healthcare Act 2017–Aspiration to action. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(Suppl. 4), S660.
17.
MathS.B., GowdaG.S., BasavarajuV., ManjunathaN., KumarC.N., EnaraA., GowdaM., & ThirthalliJ. (2019). Cost estimation for the implementation of the Mental Healthcare Act 2017. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(Suppl. 4), S650.
MishraN., NagpalS.S., ChaddaR.K., & SoodM. (2011). Help-seeking behavior of patients with mental health problems visiting a tertiary care centre in North India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(3), 234.
20.
MukherjeeA., BandopadhyayG., & ChatterjeeS.S. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic: Mental health and beyond–the Indian perspective. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 38(2), 140–144.
21.
OladejiB.D., & GurejeO. (2016). Brain drain: A challenge to global mental health. BJPsych International, 13(3), 61–63. 10.1192/s2056474000001240
22.
RaoG.P., MathS.B., RajuM.S.V.K., SahaG., JagiwalaM., SagarR., & RaoT.S. (2016). Mental Health Care Bill, 2016: A boon or bane?Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 58(3), 244.
23.
SagarR., DandonaR., GururajG., DhaliwalR.S., SinghA., FerrariA., DuaT., GanguliA., VargheseM., ChakmaJ.K., & DandonaL. (2020). The burden of mental disorders across the states of India: The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2017. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(2), 148–161.
24.
SinghO.P. (2018). District mental health program: Need to look into strategies in the era of Mental Health Care Act, 2017 and moving beyond Bellary Model. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(2), 163. 10.4103/psychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_304_18
25.
SubudhiC., BiswalR., & AcharyaS.K. (2017). Healers and healing practices of mental illness in India: The role of proposed eclectic healing model. Journal of Health Research and Reviews, 4(3), 89. 10.4103/jhrr.jhrr_64_17
26.
TanejaP.K., & DebnathR. (2020). Rapid assessment of Swasth Nagarik Abhiyan (SNA) of erstwhile IEC programme. NITI Aayog and Indian Institute of Public Administration.
27.
TharaR., & PatelV. (2010). Role of non-governmental organizations in mental health in India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 52(7), 389. 10.4103/0019-5545.69276
28.
United Nations. (2016, October5). Mental health and development | United Nations Enable. https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/issues/mental-health-and-development.html#:%7E:text=Millions%20of%20people%20worldwide%20have,of%20death%20among%20young%20people
29.
World Health Organization. (2018). Mental Health ATLAS 2017 Member State Profile, INDIA [Dataset]. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/atlas/profiles-2017/IND.pdf
30.
World Health Organization. (2019, November28). Mental disorders. WHO. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
