SRINAGAR: Only 65 mental-health professionals are posted under the National Health Mission across the Union territory, the government told the Assembly, prompting concerns about thin clinical coverage even as Tele MANAS and district mental-health programmes operate across Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir
Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Kashmir (IMHANS)
The disclosure was made in a written reply to an unstarred question tabled by Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi and placed on record by the Health and Medical Education Department, Jammu and Kashmir. The department’s data shows the NHM-supported workforce comprises five psychiatrists, 11 clinical psychologists, eight psychiatric social workers, nine psychiatric nurses, nine community nurses, 11 record keepers and 12 case-registry assistants — a total of 65 professionals deployed across districts.
The reply said the Union territory runs a district mental-health programme in every district, with addiction treatment facilities operational in each district and 24×7 tele-psychiatric consultations available through Tele MANAS (helpline 14416). Regular awareness campaigns target schools and colleges, and five-day training programmes for grassroots workers and community training are conducted twice monthly to strengthen counselling and rehabilitation services.
Despite these service platforms, the departmental table makes clear clinical staffing is sparse: only five psychiatrists are available under NHM for the whole of J and K, and several districts have little or no specialist presence, the reply notes. The department attached a district-wise breakdown (Annexure A) to the Assembly record and said community-level awareness and counselling are primarily delivered through the public health system with occasional participation from civil society and non-governmental organisations. The reply also highlighted ongoing UNICEF-supported child psychology work in the department.
On implementation of recent Supreme Court directions in Sukdeb Saha v State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors, the department said it furnished required inputs to the School Education Department, Jammu and Kashmir, which filed the UT’s reply, adding that the Health Department has “discharged its necessary responsibility” in the matter.
