New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) The country needs a 'Jan Andolan' with government, NGOs, and general public alike coming forward to sensitise people on mental health issues, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul said on Thursday.

Paul made the remarks while inaugurating a two-day national workshop on mental health here today.

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The workshop aims to bring together senior officers from all states, along with mentoring institutes for TeleMANAS, to address mental health challenges in the country.

Dr Paul expressed confidence that the workshop will churn out the best thoughts and learning from all walks of life and help design a robust healthcare system to tackle mental health issues in the country.

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"Everyone needs to be on board for the cause be it Government, Community, NGO, Individuals etc. then this cause can be won," he said.

At the event, Dr Paul also announced the merger of the KIRAN Mental Health Rehabilitation Helpline with TeleMANAS.

KIRAN Mental Health Rehabilitation Helpline has served over 1,27,390 callers since its establishment in September 2020 with Tele-Manas, the National Tele Mental Health Helpline.

Tele-Manas, launched by the Ministry of Health on World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2022, has witnessed an exponential rise in callers, handling 6,75,000 calls since inception.

The merger aims at optimising resources, enhancing service quality, and addressing the increasing demand for mental health support in India.

For the next three months, calls from KIRAN will be diverted to TeleMANAS and eventually, the former helpline will be phased out.

Dr Paul said, "This workshop will be helpful in finding ways in redressing the mental health related issues through a network of well-developed primary healthcare centres, the Ayushman Aarogya Mandir across the nation."

He added, "The robust system of Ayushman Arogya Mandir can play a crucial role and will be helpful in reaching to all across the nation."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)