Citation

Math S, Gowda G, Basavaraju V, Manjunatha N, Kumar C, Enara A, Gowda M, Thirthalli J. Indian J. Psychiatry 2019; 61(10): S650-S659.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Medknow Publications)

DOI

10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_188_19

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (MHCA) was a step that was essential, once the Government of India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. The MHCA looks to protect, promote, and fulfill the rights of persons with mental illness (PMI) as stated in the preamble of the Act. Further, there is an onus on the state to provide affordable mental health care to its citizens. In India, mental health has always been a lesser priority for lawmakers and citizens alike. The rights-based MHCA looks to overhaul the existing system by giving prominence to autonomy, protecting the rights of the mentally ill individuals, and making the State responsible for the care. The decision to make all this happen is commendable. The annual health expenditure of India is 1.15% of the gross domestic product, and the mental health budget is <1% of India's total health budget. This article systematically analyses and describes the cost estimation of the implementation of MHCA 2017, and it is not an estimation of mental health economics. The conservative annual estimated cost on the government to implement MHCA, 2017 would be 94,073 crore rupees. The present study estimation depicts that investing in the implementation of MHCA, 2017 by the government will yield 6.5 times the return on investment analysis benefit. If the State is not proactive in taking measures to implement the MHCA, the rights promised under this legislation will remain aspirational. © 2019 Indian Journal of Psychiatry | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow.

Language: en

Keywords

human; government; mental health; suicide; law; Review; India; psychiatry; cannabis; depression; prevalence; schizophrenia; stress; medical education; substance use; nursing home; alcohol consumption; mental disease; psychiatrist; community care; mental health service; hospital patient; health care cost; health economics; drug cost; health care planning; budget; mental deficiency; outpatient care; cost benefit analysis; social worker; pension; hospital cost; mental health care personnel; holistic care; mental health recovery; implementation science; Cost of providing care; economics of mental health care; health workforce; homeless person; MHCA 2017; persons with mental illness