Tele-MANAS expands mental healthcare in J&K’s remote areas

Srinagar, Nov 07: The patients in rural and hard-to-reach areas will get relief as the National Health Mission under Tele-MANAS initiative will soon start outbound calls.
Mission Director, National Health Mission, J&K, Babila Rakwal said that they are planning to further upgrade the Tele-Manas which has completed one year of uninterrupted service on November 04, 2023.
“We are also going to start the outbound calls through 104 call centres (earlier used to call beneficiaries and ASHAS) through which we will further reach far-flung areas of Kashmir. We are linking the 104 with the Tele-Manas,” she said.
After the linking of the helpline number, the NHM will prepare a list of patients with District Mental Health Program about patients and they will be called from the helpline centre which will benefit the patients of hard-to-reach areas.
Administrative Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, Bhupinder Kumar said telemedicine is a broader concept and tell consultation is part of it. Calling it a significant achievement in providing quality mental healthcare for all, he said people can call on toll-free number and seek advice on mental health issues.
“Since its launch, the number of calls and their quality has increased. People who took the first consultation are calling for follow-ups with psychologists and psychiatrists,” Kumar said.
The first-of-its-kind mental health helpline, launched on Nov 4, 2022, has mental health counsellors, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists available for patients’ calls.
Notably, since the launch of Tele-MANAS cell, it has received 29,000 calls a year and these calls were related to sadness, anxiety, relationship issues, drug addiction and self-harm.
The Tele MANAS centre has 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 mental health centres.
Earlier, coming to hospitals was a barrier for mental health patients as most of them especially female patients would not reveal their issues to anyone.
In Kashmir, there is a lot of stigma attached to mental health issues and with Tele-MANAS, people are coming forward with mental health issues and seeking help.
State Program Manager Mental Health J&K, Dr Qazi Haroon said the service aims to improve mental health services and anyone can chat with a counsellor through the chatbot.
“There is a huge mental health burden in J&K post-Covid-19. We have started Tele MANAS to provide a healing touch to people to take care of their psychological health,” he said, adding, “We want people to use this facility and Tele-MANAS is a way forward. It is more important for remote and far-off places where there is a shortage of doctors and specialists.”
With an estimated 1 crore mobile phone users and 10 lakh smartphone users, Tele MANAS is expected to reach a large portion of patients in JK eventually reducing the treatment gap.
Prof Arshad Hussain, Department of Psychiatry, GMC Srinagar said, “Tele Manas seems available and acceptable for initiating contact with mental health providers. It is cost-and-time-effective and comprehensive services for the poorly served populations.”
Notably, in May this year Tele –MANAS Cell, made the country proud by achieving the rare feat of putting the public health initiative from India in the world’s highest-impact medical journal, The Lancet, which highlighted how barriers to seeking help for mental health are being addressed through helplines and remote services.