Nagaland launches Tele-MANAS to address mental health issues

August 30, 2023 9 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Kohima | August 30

In a significant step towards strengthening mental health services in the state, the Tele-Mental Health and Neuro Science (Tele-MANAS), was launched today under the auspices of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The launch ceremony held at the State Mental Health Institute in Kohima was graced by Dr Ritu Thurr, Mission Director, Nagaland Health Mission.

Tele-MANAS, an initiative under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, GoI, 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.

The programme includes a network of 38 tele-mental health centres of excellence spread across 27 States and UTs, providing mental health services in over 20 languages and over 1600 trained counsellors running the first-line services. NIMHANS Bengaluru is the nodal centre.

Dr Ritu Thurr highlighted that the project, through its objective, will be able to facilitate timely referral specialist cases and improve follow-up and access to quality mental health consultancy and ease tension of the country.

The Mission Director informed that Tele-MANAS has been set up in all the state of India and the state of Nagaland was one of the last states to set up the project.

Speaking about the importance of mental health and well of a person and general, Dr Thurr said it encompasses emotional, psychological and social well being of the person. “It is a state of complete well being of physical social and mental which include physical, social, mental and spiritual,” he stated.

Tele-MANAS strive to bridge the gap between mental health services and those in need by offering remote access to mental health professionals. Through technology-driven mental health services, Tele-MANAS aims to minimize the stigma attached to seeking mental health support. The initiative facilitates early identification of mental health issues, enabling timely intervention and care.

Dr Nuvotso Khesoh, Senior Medical Officer (SMO) at State Mental Health Institute emphasized the ubiquity of mental health challenges and underscored mental illness as a leading contributor to ill health and disability worldwide.

Depression and anxiety were notably highlighted in the global burden of disease rankings. Dr Khesoh outlined the far-reaching economic consequences of mental health issues and stressed the urgency of accessible, affordable, and convenient care. He noted that tele mental health services fill this crucial gap by offering quality care to remote areas.

Earlier, a presentation on the project was given by Dr Rupert Peseyie, Deputy Director, NMPH where he informed that it is an equitable and affordable mental health service which will be operational 24/7 on digital mode for free.

“It also emphasizes on vulnerable and hard to reach areas. The interactive voice service is a systematic call which automatically gets connected to a call where the person will be asked to give language preference, and state where the calls will directly connect to the state,” Dr Peseyie said.
Suyimtenla Jamir, Clinical Psychologist, Tele-Manas said around 56 calls have been registered so far after the programme was launched in October, 2022. About 35% were emergencies and remaining 60% were routine calls. Out of the calls received so far, she informed that it has received calls from districts like Dimapur, Kohima, Mon, Tuensang, Mokokchung etc out of which about 60% were women and about 30% were men. The calls were related to stress, addiction on alcohol, drug, abuse and digital dependence and modern lifestyle.