Nearly 60 million Indians suffer from mental disorders
At least 60 million Indians — a number more than the population of South Africa — suffer from mental disorders,
even as the country lags the world in medical professionals and spending on mental-health issues. Nearly 10-20 million Indians (1-2 per cent of the population) suffered from severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and nearly 50 million (5 per cent of population) suffered from common mental disorders like depression and anxiety at the end of 2005, Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda informed the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) in May 2016, quoting data from the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, 2005, the last report available. India spends 0.06 per cent of its health budget on mental healthcare. This is less than Bangladesh (0.44 per cent). Most developed nations spend above four per cent of their budgets on mental-health research, infrastructure, frameworks and talent pool, according to a 2011 World Health Organisation (WHO) report. The government has commissioned a national mental health survey through the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, to estimate the number of mental patients and utilisation patterns of mental health services.
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