The mental healthcare burden in Kerala is 11%, with almost 13% of households pushed below the https://exam.pscnotes.com/POVERTY-line”>Poverty Line due to expenditure on mental illness, according to an all-India study. Though this is lower thanthe nationalmental healthcare burden Average (18%), with 21% of households pushed into poverty, the concern is that the higher proportion of people with mental illness is seen in the economically productive age group (19-55 years).
To estimate the out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE), catastrophic Health expenditure (CHE), and poverty impact due to mental illness in India, the researchers acquired data from the 76th round data of the National Sample Survey (NSS), conducted between July to December 2018.
In NSS, 5,76,569 individuals were studied, of which 6,679 persons reported mental illness during the survey. Using this data, the researchers calculated yearly out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE), monthly OOPE and average monthly total OOPE. The findings showed that several states reported a higher mental healthcare burden than the national average. The mental healthcare burden was highest in Uttarakhand (39%), followed by Sikkim (32%), Himachal Pradesh (24%), Telangana (22%),Maharashtra(21%) and Punjab (17%). On the other hand,Mizoram(3%), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1%) and Puducherry (2%) reported lower healthcare burden.