Public mental health services in Mumbai.

Mumbai, India's largest city, also has the distinction of being the most populous city in the world. The association between urbanisation and mental illness has been widely documented (Harpham & Blue, 1995, especially pp. 41-60). Mumbai is characterised by dense slums housing large migrant populations facing stressful lives. The state of publicly funded mental health facilities in Mumbai has special significance in this context, since they are the only resource available to a large economically vulnerable section of the population. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the public mental health services in Mumbai and to identify areas for improvement.