Bengaluru: In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, the national mental health helpline, Tele Manas, will be integrated with the city’s emergency response support system (ERSS). Aimed at tackling crisis situations, the integration will enable seamless transfer of calls between Namma-112 and Tele Manas 14416.Tele Manas was launched by the Union ministry of health and family welfare in 2022. With the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) in Bengaluru acting as its apex nodal centre, the helpline provides 24/7 free, confidential, and nationwide tele-mental health support.
According to data from Nimhans, about 500 daily distress calls on average are made from Karnataka, with 51% of the calls from males.Through the integration, officials believe issues like suicidal tendencies, domestic violence, and other circumstances where police intervention becomes a necessity can be addressed. “In some cases where they (Tele Manas) feel that a person who is talking to them on their helpline, might harm himself, in that situation, they are not equipped to respond immediately. They are basically helpless to respond in such emergency situations,” said Kuldeep Kumar Jain, joint commissioner of police (administration), explaining that calls will be internally patched to the police control room in such situations.Dr Pratima Murthy, director, Nimhans, said, the initiative will help in reducing the speed of interventions in emergency scenarios. She added: “Also, calls received by Namma 112 that require mental health counselling are also referred to Tele Manas. We then provide emotional support and counselling. This is a first-of-a-kind initiative to really integrate policing and emergency health with tele-counselling.”
