National Mental Health Survey of India 2015-16

NMHS
Among the NMHS states, the states of Tamil
Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala and Assam had some
type of an action plan as revealed by available
documents (Figure 8). Although, these plans
seem to be incomplete in terms of clarity and
direction, it is an essential and a significant
first step towards mental health care delivery.
In the expert consensus meetings in all the
states, a strong desire and need for a state
specific action plan was expressed.
Figure 8: Mental health action plan
WB
UP
TN
RJ
PB
MN
MP
KL
JH
GJ
CG
AS
0 2 4 6 8 10
5.9 State Mental Health Coordination
The Mental Health Act, 1987 (50) mandates
the setting up of a Mental Health Authority
in each state to advise the state governments
on all matters relating to mental health and
is in charge of regulation, development
and co-ordination with respect to mental
health services in the state. Consequent
to the failure of several states to establish
the State Mental Health Authority, the
Supreme Court issued a directive to set
up the same. Since then there has been
significant progress in the setting up of such
authorities across different states. The state
of chhatisgarh constituted the State Mental
Health Authority only in january 2016 and
the authority is yet to meet.
As per the draft Mental Health Rules, 1990
(51), the State Mental Health Authority
is to meet once in six months. In all the
states, meetings were held in the past year
and the discussions mostly focused on the
implementation of the Mental Health Act
and issues relating to licensing and broad
basing of the agenda of the SMHSA. Owing
to regulatory mandate most states scored
well in domain of mental health coordination
mechanisms (Figure 9). However it is important
to examine activities pertaining to linkages
and coordination within and across different
departments for mental health service delivery.
State level meetings extending beyond
services for severe disorders and that include
prevention, promotion of mental health and
related matters are urgently needed. This
mechanism is further strengthened in the
new Mental health Bill (2016) (52), which
requires evaluation in the coming years.
For overall mental health program at state
level, there is a need for a larger coordination
mechanism between state authority, state
programme officer, departments of health
and medical education as well as other
sectors. within the health sector and also
SMHSA
53