National Mental Health Plan and General Hospital Psychiatry1

O u r country is signatory to the Alma Ata Declarat ion which envisages heal th for all by the year 2000 as the ul t imate goal and p r i m a r y heal th care as a n app roach . This seemingly simple and s traight forward s ta tement is a t remendous venture in the field of heal th care a r d is breath taking in its scope. ' H e a l t h ' has been defined not as merely absence of disease bu t as a state of positive well being, physical., menta l a n d social. Men ta l hea l th , therefore, forms an essential par t of total heal th and as such must form an integral p a i t of the nat ional heal th policy. T h e emphasis in heal th care would follow the principles of P r i m a r y Heal th Care as ment ioned in the Alma Ata Declarat ion a n d which aims a t deprofessionalizing and decentralizing heal th care. T h e extensive need of such a p rogramme was felt over decades by various health workers, medi cal profession in general a n d psychiatrists in par t icu lar . We had been pleading tha t the Government should incorpora te the menta l heal th care delivery system with general heal th care since it was the most neglected and uncared for area in ou r domain .