BANGKOK, June 20  -- A total of 853 mental health teams have been deployed across Thailand to alleviate psychological harm incurred by the protracted political turmoil, a health official said Friday.

The political unrest from November 2013 to May this year had cost 28 lives and left 834 others injured, deputy permanent secretary for public health Wachira Pengjuntr said, adding it had been severely detrimental to the physical and mental well-being of the victims and their families.

Around 1,000 Thai families had been directly affected, Wachira said.

Treatment is also provided to political demonstrators and officials deployed at demonstration sites, he said.

These mental health teams have also been tasked with monitoring the political situation where they have been sent and campaigning for reconciliation at the community level, said Panpimol Wipulakorn, deputy director-general of the Department of Health.

To achieve national reconciliation and end color-coded political conflicts is the first step of the Thai military junta's roadmap leading up to elections, which is expected to take a couple of months.