The government’s national mental health helpline Tele MANAS, a toll-free service, has received more than two lakh calls from various parts of the country since its launch in October 2022.

It was started by the health ministry to strengthen mental health service  delivery in India.

What is the need for such a programme?

• The government of India launched the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in 1982, in response to the heavy burden of mental illness and critical need of mental healthcare infrastructure in the community.

• The District Mental Health Program (DMHP) was appended to the NMHP in 1996 to overcome the shortcomings of the programme and transitioned the districts into administrative and implementation units for NMHP. 

• With regard to mental health services, providing in-person healthcare is challenging, particularly given the large geographical distances and limited resources.

• Over 11 crore individuals in India suffer from mental health disorders and almost 80 per cent of them don’t seek mental health care. Over 1 lakh people end their lives by suicide every year.

• Access to mental health care is a basic human right. Most mental health issues can be helped by other trained healthcare providers.

• Acknowledging the mental health crisis in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and an urgent need to establish a digital mental health network that will withstand the challenges amplified by the pandemic, the government of India announced National Tele Mental Health Programme (NTMHP) in the Union Budget 2022-23.

• Tele MANAS is the National Tele Mental Health Programme. It is the digital arm of the District Mental Health Programme.

• Tele MANAS aims to provide free tele-mental health services all over the country round the clock, particularly catering to people in remote or under-served areas.

• A toll-free, 24x7 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 with 1-800-91-4416. The calls would be routed to Tele MANAS cells in the respective state and Union Territory.

Objectives of Tele MANAS:

• To enhance health service capacity in order to deliver accessible and timely mental healthcare through a tele-mental health network support system. 

• To ensure continuity of services in the community including tele-mental health counselling. 

• To facilitate timely referral to specialist care and follow-up as appropriate. 

• To enhance mental healthcare capacity and networking at health and wellness centres/primary health care/district/ state/apex institution levels.

The impact of the programme

• There has been an exponential rise in the number of calls received by the helpline. In merely three months, the number reached two lakh from one lakh calls received in April 2023.

• Toll-free helpline numbers with multi-language provision allow callers to select the language of their choice for availing the services.

• With 42 functioning Tele Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System (MANAS) cells in 31 states and Union Territories, the service is currently catering to more than 1,300 calls per day in 20 languages.

• More than 1,900 counsellors have been trained and they are running the first line services. Most common concerns encountered are sadness of mood, sleep disturbance, stress and anxiety.

• Around 7,000 calls have been followed up by callbacks by the counsellors where they have succeeded in completing the loop of care. Callers who required specialist care are being successfully linked to appropriate services such as District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) and other nearby health care facilities.

• A spurt of increase in calls related to exam stress was seen during the exam season.

• These callers were helped by the counsellors with supportive counselling and self-help strategies which helped them in coming out with flying colours. Efforts are also made to reach more students/ adolescents in various educational institutes.

• Tele MANAS will continue to provide callers with basic counselling and mental health services, with linkages to existing vital services and resources including integration with eSanjeevani.

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