Even as mental health disorders are on the rise in the country, at least 10 States including Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand are yet to set up mandatory State Mental Health Authority (SMHA)to address the medical and rehabilitation needs of the sector.  Ten per cent of India’s population suffers from mental illnesses, and 90 per cent of them remain untreated.

What’s worst, none of the States except Tripura has been able to establish mental health review board as envisaged in the Mental Health Act 2017. The Act that guarantees rights of people affected by mental illness also entrusts respective state governments to ensure facilities for rehabilitating them.

It also mandates the States to have a functional authority within nine months of the law coming into force, but most of the States have missed the deadline. The States are also yet to draft the rules of the Act. The 19 States which have set up SMHA are Manipur, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu , Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Telangana,  Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Gujarat, Kerala and Nagaland.

According to the Government reply to an RTI query filed by Supreme Court advocate and mental health activist, Gaurav Kumar Bansal, only 19 States have set up State Mental Health Authority (SMHA) so far while only Triupra has constituted the Mental Health Review Board.

The RTI reply shows that the Central Government has no information on formulation of State Mental Health Rules as well as health regulations.

Concerned at the poor implementation, Union Social Welfare Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot  has written to all the States to work for raising awareness for promotion of mental health of individuals across the society cautioning that if ignored at initial stage, it can take shape of an epidemic.

In this connection, he stressed that while prompt clinical treatment is necessary to tackle the condition, whenever required there are non-clinical measures such as yoga, community support and participation in positive activities to prevent the mental health disorders.

According to a survey of 10,233 individuals conducted across seven States by Delhi-based CIMBS in collaboration with the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), athough 43 per cent were aware  of a person with mental illness within their family or friends, nearly 20 per centreported no mental health facility or clinic even within a 50 km radius of their residence.

Overall, only 49 per cent had a mental health facility within a 20 km radius. Similarly, while 48 per cent had a person with a known addiction in their family or friends, 59 per cent had no de-addiction service near their house. Such distances are deterrents that contribute to a wide treatment gap, said Dr Sunil Mittal, psychiatrist and Director, WFMH.