E-Paper
Maha kick starts campaign to raise awareness about tele-mental health services
Tele-MANAS aims to provide free tele-mental health services all over the country round the clock. A toll-free, helpline number (14416) has been set up across the country allowing callers to select the language of choice for availing services
The state public health department will conduct an awareness campaign about Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS), a centralised mental health helpline to reach a larger population suffering from mental health ailments.
The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of mental health. The Tele-MANAS initiative was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in October 2022.
It aims to provide free tele-mental health services all over the country round the clock. A toll-free, helpline number (14416) has been set up across the country allowing callers to select the language of choice for availing services.
Service is also accessible at 1800-891-4416. The calls are routed to Tele-MANAS cells in the respective state and union territories, said officials.
Dheeraj Kumar, Maharashtra state health commissioner, had instructed to launch a campaign for widespread awareness about ‘Tele-MANAS’ helpline and networking initiative. Following this, a large-scale public awareness campaign has been undertaken in collaboration with the state health department, Regional Mental Hospital, Pune and Regional Mental Hospital, Thane. Also, the help of various organisations and mental health experts working in mental health is taken to spread awareness about the service of ‘Tele-MANAS’ across the state, said officials.
Tele-MANAS helpline is proving to be important due to its easy and round-the-clock accessibility for the public.
“Many people need mental health support due to the increasing stress in life. People in distress, anxiety, depression, students with exam stress, family issues, suicidal thoughts, relationship issues, financial stress or in case of any other mental health issue can call 14416 and 1-800-91-4416 for a free consultation and counselling services by contacting the numbers,” said, Dr Kailas Baviskar, deputy director of health services.
Another official, requesting anonymity, said, to create awareness, as many as 60 WhatsApp groups of doctors, experts from regional mental hospitals, counsellors and experts from mental health institutions have been created.
“The helpline since its launch has helped over 18,000 such callers from Maharashtra through telephonic counselling round the clock. Most of the callers are from Pune, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Sangli, and Mumbai. The central government has created a network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence. The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience Bangalore is the nodal centre for the tele-helpline,” the official said.
Dr Baviskar, said, “The helpline also has a language option for the caller as it is routed to the respective regional state from the centralised helpline. Given the stigma associated with mental health issues, people avoid visiting psychiatrists but they can take the help of this helpline.”
