The government's national mental health helpline Tele MANAS, a toll-free service, has received more than 2,00,000 calls from various parts of the country since its launch in October last year.

It was started by the Union Health Ministry to strengthen mental health service delivery in India.

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, the ministry said in a statement.

In a tweet, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya congratulated the country on achieving the feat.

Toll-free helpline numbers -- 14416 or 1-800-891-4416 -- with multi-language provision allow callers to select the language of their choice for availing the services, the ministry said in the statement.

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, the statement said.

"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," it added.

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

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.

Promotion of the Tele MANAS services via different media platforms such as print media, radio and social media are being carried out.

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 e Sanjeevani in the coming days, according to the statement.

"Tele MANAS initiative, which was announced by Union Ministry of Health in the Union budget 2022-23 as an acknowledgement to the mental health crisis in the country, is a novel initiative to enable people to seek support for their mental health issues while maintaining anonymity of the callers, thereby reducing the stigma generally surrounding mental health issues," the statement said.

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