Many Indians choose not treat their mental health problems thereby leading to an early death by at least 15-20 years as compared to mentally healthy people.

Shekhar Saxena, director, department of mental health and substance abuse, World Health Organization (WHO), said, "Their family members are equally responsible as they should be more responsive to needs of mentally ill people."
The experts revealed that the mental doctor-patient ratio in India is one doctor for three lakh patients. Dr. Pratap Sharan, professor in the department of psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said, "Mental health services are very low-resourced in India with just 1% of the total health budget being spent on it. All the policies of the government, be it for education, employment, gender issues, or poverty alleviation, must be in favor of people with mental health problems. Mental health services must be enhanced and should not be limited only to the hospitals or mental health centers. The services must be rendered at the community level too. Finally, NGOs and civil societies must come forward in addressing this problem."
These findings were revealed at the symposium on ’Mental Health: Gender, Youth and Social Justice’ organized by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in collaboration with the US-based Columbia university.
Source-Medindia