India crosses a significant milestone for The National Tele Mental Health Programme of India
In a significant achievement towards providing quality mental healthcare for all across the country, Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS) helpline of the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has reached a milestone by receiving over 100,000 calls since its launch in October 2022.
In a tweet by Union Health Minister, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya congratulated the countrymen for this feat.
The National Tele Mental Health Programme of India was inaugurated on the occasion of World Mental Health Day on 10th October 2022. Since its inception, the service has aimed to create a digital mental health ecosystem that has provided a boost to the existing mental healthcare services.
The nation-wide service, an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India successfully completed its first 6 months of functioning, with currently over 38 functional Tele MANAS Cells spread across 27 States and UTs, providing mental health services in over 20 languages and over 1600 trained counsellors running the first-line services.
The National Tele Mental Health Programme of India focuses on building the mental health workforce of the nation through capacity building initiatives whilst simultaneously ensuring that mental health services can reach free of cost to every household and every individual, targeting the most vulnerable and unreached sections of society that may otherwise have gone unnoticed. With Tele MANAS reaching the 1 lakh mark in 6 months, it turns a new leaf in achieving its ultimate aim of building a robust digital mental health network throughout India.