From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Oct 10: Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar has expressed happiness and felt it is a matter of immense pride for Karnataka that the Union government has launched the brand new T-Manas programme, based on Karnataka’s E-Manas platform.

The new initiative was launched at the State level by Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot at the 26th Convocation of NIMHANS that took place in Bengaluru on Monday.

The T-MANAS platform will function as a 24/7 mental health facility across the country, the minister said.

Karnataka initially launched a tele-counseling program in association with NIMHANS when the pandemic first struck.

The primary objective of the initiative was to address the stress caused due to Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. The initiative saw immense success and the Karnataka government also experimented an online counseling for students at a time when the class 10 results were announced in the State.

Dr Sudhakar said Karnataka has completed a total of 23 lakh tele-counseling till date.

The E-Manas platform of Karnataka is one stop location for mental health. The platform connects patients, mental health professionals and mental health institutions.

The Minister said: “It is a heartening to see that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya are taking proactive steps to focus on improving mental health in the country. I am proud to say that Karnataka has played a pioneering role in focusing on mental health.”

Dr Sudhakar highlighted Karnataka’s new Brain health initiative which aims to train PHC doctors to diagnose and treat mental health and other brain related illnesses.

The Minister said one day in the week will be dedicated for this task at all the Primary and Secondary Health Centers in the State.