New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANS) More than 11,76,000 calls have been handled by Tele-MANAS mental health helpline, said Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The Tele-MANAS toll-free number was launched as part of the national tele-mental health programme in India, in October 2022.

Till July, about “36 States or Union territories (UTs) have set up 53 Tele MANAS Cells”, Jadhav said.

The minister informed that as per the 2016 National Mental Health Survey (NMHS), there is about 10.6 per cent prevalence of mental disorders in adults over the age of 18 years in the country.

He added that mental health services have been added to Ayushman Arogya Mandirs to boost treatments at the primary health care level.

“At the primary healthcare level, the government has upgraded more than 1.73 lakh Sub Health Centres (SHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to Ayushman Arogya Mandirs,” Jadhav said.

Further, the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) has been sanctioned for implementation in 767 districts, Jadhav said.

The DMHP is the component of the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) and provides support to States/UTs through the National Health Mission on “suicide prevention services, workplace stress management, life skills training and counselling in schools and colleges”.

The Minister noted that DMHP provides facilities like “outpatient services, assessment, counselling/ psycho-social interventions, continuing care and support to persons with severe mental disorders, drugs, outreach services, ambulance services” at the district hospitals, community health centre (CHC) and primary health centre (PHC) levels.

There is also a provision of 10 bedded in-patient facilities at the district level.

The government has also boosted mental health specialities to enhance the capacity of mental health services in the country

“Under the Tertiary care component of NMHP, 25 Centres of Excellence have been sanctioned to increase the intake of students in PG departments in mental health specialties as well as to provide tertiary level treatment facilities,” Jadhav said.

In addition, support has been provided “to establish or strengthen 47 PG Departments in mental health specialties in 19 government medical colleges/institutions”, he added.

Mental health services are also “provisioned for 22 new AIIMS” in the country.

Currently, there are 47 government-run mental hospitals in the country, which include three central mental health institutions, viz. National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health, Assam and Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, Jadhav said.