The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore estimates that two crore Indians need help for serious mental disorders, while a further five crore suffer from mental illnesses not considered very serious. These figures do not include neurological age-related progressive disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Nimhans also estimates that at least 35 lakh Indians need hospitalisation on account of mental illnesses. But the country has only 40 institutions that are equipped to treat patients suffering from mental disorders. The total number of beds is less than 26,000. Of these 40 institutions, only nine are equipped to treat children. Moreover, many of them are medieval-era, asylum-style institutions with high boundary walls, artificial barriers and patients kept in solitary confinement."We need to get out of this 'mental hospital' structure. More importantly, we need to stop reinforcing negative stereotypes of the mentally ill," says Vandana Gopikumar, member of the policy group appointed by the Union health ministry to frame a national mental health policy.

"At least 20 per cent of Indian children suffer from some form of mental disorder, of which about 2-5 per cent are serious disorders," says Manju Mehta, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences. "Irritability, sleeping and eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders, if ignored, could later manifest as more serious concerns," she adds.

Startling facts coming to light during Mental Health awareness week. A new study says that almost four crore Indians suffer from mental illnesses and there's an extreme shortage of psychiatrists.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report, the number of suicides in India could be reduced by at least one-fourth if counselling is given on time. But there's an alarming shortage of trained psychiatrists.

Arpita Anand, a psychologist says, "There are only 4000 mental experts for a population of billion plus, how critical is that."

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken the matter up with the Medical Council of India (MCI) as a "serious Human rights issue".

Fifteen per cent of all health related disabilities in the country can be attributed to mental illness.

Yet it accounts for less than 1 per cent of the annual healthcare budget. The country is short of 30,000 trained psychiatrists for an estimated 4 crore people suffering from mental illness.

And there aren't enough paramedics, there is just one nurse for every 1000 patients.

Besides the lack of skilled professionals, the problem is of unequal distribution of mental health experts. So, out of the 4000 psychiatrists most of these experts are concentrated in the 4-5 metros. Mumbai has 300 trained psychiatrists and while that also isn't enough for the city of 1.5 crore, it certainly leaves rural India far behind.
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