Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Oct 18: The Government has begun to implement the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in J&K for providing affordable and accessible mental health facilities to all, through ‘Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States’ (Tele MANAS), for which the Health & Medical Education (H&ME) has designated a Nodal Officer.
Under the program, the Government is aiming to provide round-the-clock necessary assistance to those in need by way of strengthening and supplementing the service delivery framework of the existing National Mental Health Programme (NMHP).
The program aims to achieve the objectives, which include upscaling mental health services across the country by way of setting up 24X7 mental health facilities apart from implementing a full-fledged mental health network. The Government will also be focusing on extending services to vulnerable groups and hard-to-reach populations.
H&ME in this regard ordered that for the seamless rollout of the scheme in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, the Mission Director, National Health Mission, J&K has been designated as the Nodal Officer for the implementation of Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele MANAS).
The Nodal Officer has been tasked to implement the scheme on the National Health Mission framework apart from setting up the Tele-MANAS cell in the UT including hiring and training manpower for the successful rollout of the scheme.
For the rollout of the scheme, the Nodal Officer will also set up a Mentoring Institute by providing manpower and equipment as well as the preparation of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) Cells at the District level for tier-II level counseling.
The designated Nodal Officer will also liaison with Apex Nodal Institute for mentoring and monitoring of Tele-MANAS, Regional coordinating Centres, Mentoring Institutions, States/UT Cells, and any other institution/organization as may be necessary for the implementation of the said scheme.
Officials said that the Tele-MANAS, across the country, will be organized in a two-tier system, where Tier 1 comprises state Tele-MANAS cells which include trained counselors and mental health specialists while Tier 2 will comprise specialists at District Mental Health Programme (DMHP)/Medical College resources for physical consultation and/or e-Sanjeevani for audiovisual consultation. Presently, they said, there are 5 regional coordination centers along with 51 State/UT Tele MANAS cells.
The initial rollout providing basic support and counseling through a centralized Interactive Voice Response system (IVRS), officials said, is being customized for use across all States and UTs.
It is to be noted here that under the program, Government will not only help in providing immediate mental healthcare services but also facilitate care while specialized care is being envisioned through the program by linking Tele-MANAS with other services like National teleconsultation service, e-Sanjeevani, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and others.
The program has a network of 23 tele-mental health centers of excellence, with NIMHANS being the nodal center and the International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) providing technical support. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bengaluru and the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHRSC) will provide technical support.
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