The numbers 14416 and 18008914416, over the last year, have built a route to mental care. A brief ringing tone digitally escorts the caller around Tele-MANAS, India’s round-the-clock mental health helpline. The caller is asked to select a language of their choice among 20 options, then led to a trained professional. The line transmits their stress, anxiety and grief; some concerns demand emergency attention, others need prolonged care. Since its launch in 2022, Tele-MANAS has received over 3,40,000 calls (as of October 8) from 51 cells spread across 32 States and Union Territories, now fielding more than 2,000 calls per day.
The helpline was a response to a mental health crisis inflamed by the COVID-19 pandemic: isolation, financial precarity and illness adversely impacted levels of anxiety, depression and substance use disorders globally. Estimates show that 70-92% of Indians do not receive medication or treatment for different mental conditions. Tele-MANAS was thus envisioned as an emergency mental health first-aid kit, embarking on a journey “of building a comprehensive digital mental health network across India and reach the unreached,” as the government noted.
The Hindu tracks its operations: the helpline has grown in infrastructure and across geography. Now, it has to solve for personnel issues, scale awareness levels, tackle data privacy concerns and reach communities living on the other side of the digital divide.
