Govt to roll out national tele mental health plan & digital health ecosystem

Acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the mental health of people, the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (February 1) announced the launch of a National Tele Mental Health initiative.

While unveiling the budget for fiscal 2022-23, Sitharaman said that the pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. “To better the access to quality mental health counselling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health programme will be launched,” she said.

Further, the Finance Minister said that the National Tele Mental Health programme will include a wide network of 23 tele mental health centres of excellence. Nimhans will be the nodal centre, while the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)Bangalore will provide the technological support for this mental health programme.

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The FM also announced an open platform for a National Digital Health ecosystem. It will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities, said the minister. “An open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem will be rolled out. It will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity, consent framework and universal access to health facilities,” she said.

“We are in the midst of the Omicron wave, the speed of our vaccination campaign has helped greatly. I am confident that sabka prayaas, we’ll continue with strong growth,” she said early on in her  Budget speech. According to the FM, the Budget seeks to lay the foundation to steer the economy over ‘Amrit Kaal’ of next 25 years, from India at 75 to India at 100, and the country will continue to build on the vision of the Budget.