BENGALURU: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the Union Budget on Tuesday that the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru has been chosen as the the nodal centre for a national tele mental health programme, for which the technology support will be provided by the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore. She said that the initiative will provide the much-needed mental health support to people of all ages who have been affected by the Covid pandemic.
The programme will include a network of 23 centres of excellence with NIMHANS being the nodal centre. It is expected to help lakhs of people across the country who have been adapting to physical, psychological and economic changes over the last two years of the pandemic.
Mental health experts lauded the budget’s focus on mental health, saying it is the need of the hour. NIMHANS Director Dr Pratima Murthy told The New Indian Express, “This programme is a welcome move as there is a shortage of specialists in mental health care and there is a treatment gap for various disorders such as psychosis, anxiety, depression, substance use, etc.” She explained that it is a challenge as people in the country do not have a treatment-seeking behaviour when it comes to mental health issues.
‘Helpline has counselled 26.08L’
“The 24/7 tele-helpline should help people who have been affected. It would increase capacities of individual states, and provide mental health care to remote areas,” she added. A similar initiative in Karnataka has been doing well with over 25 lakh tele counselling sessions being held during the first and second waves of the pandemic.
Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar claimed credit, saying, “Karnataka recognised the need for mental health counselling at the very beginning of the pandemic and set up a helplines for tele counselling. So far, the helpline set up at NIMHANS has counselled 26.08 lakh people through its tele-counselling sessions during the pandemic.”
At a time when meeting specialists in person has become difficult, telemedicine and tele-counselling services will play a major role, said Dr Mahesh Gowda, chairman and founder of Spandana Hospital for Mental Health.