Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Health Minister Dhani Ram Shandil on Thursday (September 28) launched a comprehensive mental health care service to provide to people universal access to equitable, affordable and accessible mental health care online. The key focus of ‘Tele MANAS’ will be on adolescent age groups at school and college levels as younger generations take extra stress to perform better in academics and at their workplaces, according to a statement.
The state government has set up round-the-clock call centres in a public private participation mode for the programme. Counsellors have been appointed to receive calls from patients and their attendants on the toll free numbers 14416 or 1800-891-4416, the minister said.
Initially, there will be eight counsellors for online counselling and the number can be increased later, if needed, he added.
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The Union Health Ministry launched the Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (MANAS) to cater to people living in remote and under-served areas.
The Centre has provided a grant of Rs 1.06 crore to start the service in the state. The Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences – Delhi has been assigned as the regional coordination centre and will help build capacity, Shandil said.
The Tele MANAS programme has a two tier system. Tier-1 will be a state-level cell with trained counsellors while Tier-2 will offer physical consultations with a psychiatrist at medical colleges or district-level hospitals where patients can go directly or after a referral from the call centres.
The Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital – Shimla will be the mentoring institute for the programme and help develop state-specific protocols and guidelines. The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences and IIIT – Bengaluru will provide technical support.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
