JAKARTA - Jakarta health authorities said on Monday (Nov 6) they plan to hire dozens of psychologists and station them at the city's community health centres to help the city's overwrought residents.

The plan is the idea of new Governor Anies Baswedan, who had said 20 per cent of the capital's residents were prone to stress, Jakarta Post reported, citing the Jakarta Health Agency's secretary, Een Haryani.

The city's community health centres logged nearly 40,000 consultations related to stress and depression last year, she said.

Een said the agency would hire 44 psychologists and deploy them to districts in the capital.

"The recruitment is part of next year's plan. They will be paid Rp 13 million per month," Een told kompas.com.

Een said the agency work with universities to recruit the mental health professionals.