Kerala budget: Govt allots Rs 64 cr for mental health care for persons with disabilities

Kerala has always set aside a sizeable chunk of its health budget for mental health programmes.
TM Thomas Isaac
TM Thomas Isaac

Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac announced the state's budget for the fiscal 2020-2021 on Friday morning. Speaking at the assembly, Thomas Isaac said that Rs 64 crore has been set aside for mental health programmes in the state for the year for persons with disabilities.

"Families with persons with disabilities are more susceptible to fall into the absolutely poor category. Special financial aid for the care and treatment of such families, can be found from the existing schemes themselves. Rs.50 crore is earmarked for the care and treatment of these people," the Finance Minister elaborated.

Kerala has been known to set aside a considerable amount of its budget to tackle mental health issues. According to the National Mental Health Survey of India 2015 - 2016, Kerala is among the states with the highest budgetary allocation for mental health - 1.16 percent of its total health budget.

The reason for this is a considerable chunk of the state's population experiencing mental health disorders. According to reports, a study by the State Mental Health Survey in 2018 found that 14.4 percent of the state's population aged 18 and above have suffered mental health problems at some point in their lives. In order to address this issue, the state's health department also runs a comprehensive mental health programme which involves grass root level health workers or ASHA workers surveying residents in their locality, identifying cases and referring them for treatment or counselling. The aim of the program is to sensitise people about mental health and also provide treatment at the primary level itself. The programme offers treatment for mental health issues, drug addiction, children's mental health disorders, suicidal tendencies, depression and other ailments.

The District Mental Health Programme in the state also has a separate scheme for the mental health of new mothers named 'Amma Manasu', which was started after a high number of suicides among young mothers were noticed in the state. The programme aims to identify cases of postpartum depression or post partum psychosis that sets in in the aftermath of a delivery, and aims to provide counselling or treatment for the same.

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the contribution of ASHA workers with field surveillance and data collection, the state government has also recommended the increase of their allowance by Rs 100.

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