India's National Mental Health Helpline Received 2 Calls Every Minute: Government Tells Parliament

India's national mental health helpline received 2 calls every minute, revealed the data shared by the government in the Parliament on Wednesday. According to government data furnished to Parliament, the national mental health telephone helpline handled close to 30 lakh calls since its launch in October 2022, averaging nearly two calls every minute. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha that the government launched a "National Tele Mental Health Programme" on October 10, 2022, to improve access to quality mental health counselling and care services in the country."More than 29,82,000 calls have been handled on the helpline number," Rai said.He was answering a question on the suicide rate in the country and measures

taken by the government in this context.

The minister added that a Tele MANAS mobile application, launched on World Mental Health Day in 2024, is a "comprehensive" platform that now includes video consultation, expanding the original audio-based service.The services of Tele-MANAS (Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States) helpline (1800-89-14416) are available in 20 languages based on the language opted by states, he said.The toll-free helpline numbers 14416 or 1-800-891-4416 help facilitate communication between callers and medical health professionals. According to data released by the Union Health Ministry in May this year, over 10 lakh were received on the helpline till ten. Average 3,500 calls were received per day, the health ministry said. Meanwhile, a survey conducted in August this year, had revealed that around 40 per cent of students lacked mental health support and 1 in 5 student struggled with motivation. As per the survey, nearly 40 per cent of students do not know where to go in school for mental health support, while nearly half have never received structured career counselling. Uncertainty about the future is among the top three reasons behind increasing stress, the survey report revealed.(With inputs from PTI)