Mental Health Infrastructure, Legislation, and Programme in India

Mental healthMental health is an essential component of human growth and development. It deals with human ideas and emotions and helps to lead a good life by paving the way for a healthy mind Dhyani et al., (2022). A healthy mind supports society’s healthy social functioning and helps the country’s socio-economic and political development. The Government of India is taking proactive measures to provide mental health care services from the primary to the tertiary level to reduce the prevalence and impact of risk factors associated with mental health problems. In the last six decades, several initiatives have been taken to address mental health and integrate mental health care in general health care, setting up community rehabilitation facilities, family support, legislative revision, and public awareness (Murthy, 2014). In the government’s Union Budget (2022–23), the Finance Minister announced the start of a National Tele-Mental Health programme in India. She affirmed that the government would launch 23 tele-mental health centres with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) as the nodal centre, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bangalore, would provide the technical support for this initiative (Subudhi & Sahu, 2022).