Bridging the gap in mental helath: Kashmir’s Tele–MANAS cell finds space in ‘The Lancet’
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Bridging the gap in mental helath: Kashmir’s Tele–MANAS cell finds space in ‘The Lancet’

Post by M Peerzada on Sunday, May 7, 2023

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Srinagar, May 06: To bridge the gap in Mental Health, Government of India launched the National Tele-Mental Health Program (NTMHP), which besides many other activities included setting up a network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence.
The Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (IMHANS) Tele Manas centre Srinagar is one of the centres of excellence chosen for this purpose.
Tele MANAS centres across the country provide free round the clock tele mental health services viaTele-Mental Health Assistance and Nationally Actionable Plan through States (Tele-MANAS).
Tele MANAS centre have trained psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and counsellors available through audio tele networking 24/7 for patients in distress, in case of need for referral the patients are guided to locally available government runs mental health centres
With an estimated 1 crore mobile phone users and 10 lac smartphone users, Tele Manas is expected to reach a large portion of patients in UT of JK eventually reducing treatment gap.
Prof Arshad Hussain, Department of Psychiatry, GMC Srinagar  said since its launch on November 04, 2022, the Tele Manas Centre at IMHANS has received more than 10000 calls, as people in distress are calling from every nook and corner of  the Union Territory and seeking professional help.
“Tele Manas seems available and acceptable for initiating contact with mental health providers. Tele Manas is cost-and-time-effective and comprehensive services for the poorly served populations,” he said.
Women in UT JK predominates the initial data and are approximately 70 percent of the callers, but recently call from male gender is also increasing.
“We have received approximately 300 calls from people with intention to self-harm and pause was achieved in all of them and all of them have been linked to nearest mental health services. 1000s of distress calls, predominantly from women either with underlying mental health problems or distress arising from immediate stressful causes like domestic violence, death in family, illnesses in family. During exams many students have also called Tele Manas centre to avert stress of exams,” Dr Arshid said.
Tele Manas centre in Kashmir is currently best model centres in country along with Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu according to data and ranking maintained at IIT Bangalore.
Kashmir’s Tele –MANAS cell, established at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) Srinagar, last year has made country proud by achieving the rare feat of putting a public health initiative from India in the world’s highest impact medical journal, The Lancet, titled “Reducing the mental health treatment gap in Kashmir: scaling up to maximize the potential of telepsychiatry”. It highlights how barriers in seeking help for mental health are being addressed through helplines and remote services.
Prof Arshad is the lead author of the article published in The Lancet. Its co-authors are Bhupinder Kumar of Health & Medical Education (H&ME) Department, J&K, and Manasi Kumar from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, Kenya, with Fazle Roub from Department of Psychiatry, IMHANS, GMC Srinagar.
It mentions that scaling up telepsychiatry is especially relevant in regions such as Jammu and Kashmir that have faced political conflicts and natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The article suggests scaling up telepsychiatry to maximize its potential and addressing the significant mental health burden in whole India and more so in places like Kashmir.
“The area has a huge mental health burden that authorities have tried to address by increasing the number of trained mental health professionals, despite these efforts the gap remains largely unaddressed. Policymakers have also initiated the Tele MANAS centre in Kashmir, where mental health needs are being prioritized by introducing more professionals who can provide services in local Kashmiri and Urdu languages,” the comment said.
It mentions that the current step is expected to ensure cost-and-time-effective and comprehensive services for the poorly served population of the region, strengthening mental health, an area that has been historically neglected.
“The initiative has started with a country level assessment led by government stakeholders to get a broad picture of the mental health needs, available services, opportunities, and main challenges for scale up and develop strategies for scale-up of services,” it added.
The publication notes that mental health in India remains a major concern with the country facing numerous challenges such as poor awareness of mental illness, stigma, high treatment gap and shortage of mental health professionals to manage widely prevalent mental illnesses.
“The impetus towards scaling up mental health services was taken by the Finance Ministry of India that added a budget for tele-MANAS in its Union Budget of 2022 for nation-wise coverage of Tele-MANAS,” it said.
Dr Arshid said IMHANS Tele Manas centre is one of the centres of excellence chosen for the purpose. It provides free round the clock tele mental health services via Tele-MANAS.
The Kashmir Tele MANAS centre has trained psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and counselors available through audio tele networking 24/7 for patients in distress. In case of referral, the patients are guided to locally available govt. run mental health centres.
While sharing the Publication on Facebook, Dr Arshad Hussain turned nostalgic and remembered the journey of 23 years of changing an asylum into an Institute of Excellence.
“We were challenged with changing the face of psychiatry in Kashmir with my colleagues and teachers. We turned a burnt asylum into the Institute of Mental Health from the smallest department in GMC to one of the largest departments,” he said.
He credits it to every psychiatrist who worked there with enthusiasm. “I was just a mere agent of change. I also started enjoying being a clinician. I also became part of GMCs many projects in its path to progress and glory,” he said.
“Even though my research ideas brought me laurels of being the first fellow selected for Fogarty exchange program in India instead of leaving for Washington Medical School, I stayed back to serve. I did get a chance to express my research ideas as a Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology Fellow in Kobe Japan and also stood first for my research presentation in the World Association of social psychiatry, and availed many travel bursaries because of my research ideas,” he said.
“I also did publish 100 odd papers in reasonably good journals but that never gave me a thrill because I never saw my name in The Lancet, my medical school dream,” said the senior psychiatrist.
“But today it happened even though nothing great happened, but the child within me was excited I couldn’t become the pilot but the toy plane is the thrill,” he said.
 
 
 
 
 

 

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