India Needs Active Mental Health Intervention

Terming the statistics on mental health as worrying, Kovind said those living in metropolitan cities and the young -- whether in the productive age group or children and teenagers -- were most vulnerable to mental illnesses.

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"We have a young population, with 65 percent of our people below the age of 35. And our society is rapidly urbanising. This leaves us staring at a possible mental health epidemic," said Kovind.

Calling for more human resource to tackle the major gap in combating the mental health challenge, Kovind said despite a 1.25 billion population, India had only seven lakh doctors - less than a million.

"In the field of mental health, the scarcity is even more acute. There are only about 5,000 psychiatrists and less than 2,000 clinical psychologists in our country," Kovind pointed out.

Source: IANS