Affirming the government’s commitment to mainstreaming mental health in India, Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that through telecommunication, institutions are being linked and high-quality courses designed laying full emphasis on training at national level.

Replying to the discussion on the working of his ministry, Minister Nadda said, ”Through telecommunication, we are linking institutions, including Vimhans and others. At an all-India level, high-quality courses are being designed, and the emphasis is on training also.”

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He said mental health has been added to the package of services under comprehensive primary healthcare provided at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs as part of the government’s efforts to integrate mental healthcare services at the primary healthcare level.

The minister said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the government launched the National Mental Health Programme in 2022. As part of this initiative, Nadda noted that efforts are being made to refocus mental health as a priority and position India as a leader in mental healthcare.

Pointing out that several members spoke about the last-mile connectivity and grassroots delivery, he said since health is a state subject, its implementation is in the hands of the state government.

He emphasised that under Schedule 7, the role of the Central government is financial and technical support, policy-making and planning, research and development and hand-holding to reach the goals of the National Health Mission. ”While the focus of earlier health policies was curative, the Health Policy introduced in 2017 is a comprehensive policy, including other elements such as palliative, curative, rehabilitative, preventative approaches among others.”

There is a need to differentiate who is responsible for why something is not happening, he pointed out.

He also pointed out that various forms of medicine are now being used in an integrated manner, with research underway at the AIIMS, and gave an example of how research on how yoga can benefit hypertension. He lauded several types of research being taken up by the AIIMS and the integrated processes used by them to treat patients better.

There is a co-existence of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) along with allopathy medicine under the same roof, he said.

The health minister said 14 types of diagnostics have to be provided in health centres, and requested the members to check if all of these are available in their local sub-health centres since the government has provided financial and technical support for the same.

Sharing about the national sickle cell mission in the House, he demonstrated a card given to patients under the mission. Ahead of marriage, the colours on the card must match, this will ensure the protection of newborn children from sickle cell anaemia, he said.

He informed the House that ”by next year we will open 25,000 outlets of Jan Aaushadi…. There have been savings of Rs 30,000 crore for patients till now”. He also noted that the medical seats have been increased, and will be increased to 75,000 soon. A total of 75 super-speciality blocks have been opened.

Earlier in the day, Bill Gates, former Microsoft CEO and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, met Minister Nadda in Parliament and discussed India’s significant advancements in healthcare and future collaborations between the foundation and the country.

The Lok Sabha discussed the working and vote on the demands for grants under the control of the Ministry of Railways and the Jal Shakti Ministry.