Shipra Dawar, founder and CEO of
ePsyclinic said on a positive note, “As a mental health entrepreneur, I feel proud that the mental health bill has been passed in Lok Sabha. It's truly a landmark event and we welcome the change of the government.
The unneeded stigma and shame that a person who is struggling with a mental health issue faces will now be more comfortable while reaching out to mental health service providers.
Moreover, affordability of mental health interventions through insurance will also make help-seeking easier. I am glad that I am serving in this field and especially during times when things are moving swiftly and people are becoming more open to mental health issues. My sincere thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our elected representatives who took an initiative in the field."
However the bill still needs to be approved by President Pranab Mukherjee. The new Mental Healthcare Bill 2016, which has been approved Parliament and is awaiting the President’s assent should be implemented in letter and spirit to ensure mental healthcare and services to persons with mental illness, said Lav Aggarwal, joint secretary of
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognised mental health as being a primary concern for well-being of individuals and stated
depression as the theme for World Health Day this year. Depression has become an increasingly fatal disease accounting for the highest number of disabilities that occur after cardiac illnesses. The presence of an undiagnosed depression is known to be the cause of 90 percent of suicides across the world. Between 1990 and 2013, the number of people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders increased by nearly 50 percent. Mental illnesses affected 300 million of the global population in 2015. WHO statistics place the prevalence of depression in South East Asian countries at 86 million.
Sumant Narain, director of health at NITI Aayog said, that today the ecosystem was far more conducive to recognizing depression and partnerships were needed between public and private sectors to deal with the illness.
He said that in addition to limited availability of resources and trained health-care providers, the social stigma attached to mental disorders was a major challenge. Hence it was imperative for people to learn and understand depression. It will not only benefit the patient but also the caregivers and family members. With the passage of the revised Mental Health Bill 2016, it is now time to implement it with the support of all stakeholders.
President of
Fortis Healthcare, Daljit Singh said that capacity building was required in treating mental disorders and technology could be of great assistance in this regard. He further said that recognizing depression as a disease in India was a positive transformation in society and with the government’s new Mental Health Bill was a step in the right direction.
