Hyderabad: The Centre has stated that 15,95,000 calls have been received by the Tele-MANAS toll-free helpline number (14416) of 53 Tele-MANAS Cells established under the ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ launched on October 10, 2022, to address the mental health issues of the people.

Responding to a question raised by BRS Rajya Sabha deputy floor leader Vaddiraju Ravichandra during the question hour during the winter session of the parliament on Tuesday, December 3, Union health and family welfare minister JP Nadda and Union minister of state for health and family welfare Prataprao Jadhav replied stating that the programme was being implemented 24/7 across the country through an exclusive mobile video app in 20 languages.

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The union ministers also said that accredited social health activists (ASHA worker) and auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) would identify those being affected by mental health issues, create awareness amongst them through a psychiatric nurse, and give them medication.

Depending on the severity of the mental health issue, the patients will be referred to district hospitals, where they would be given counseling and psychiatric treatment through experts, the ministers stated.

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