Tele-Mentoring and Monitoring of the National Mental Health Program: A Bird’s-Eye View of Initiatives from India

Objective: To provide a glimpse of various digital programs and modules that are being implemented across the country by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India (an institution of national importance under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; one of its mandates is to develop innovative strategies to improve mental health capacity building as part of the National Mental Health Program, a publicly funded health program to cater to the public health need posed by psychiatric disorders). Design: The information is presented in a narrative fashion by organizing the activities into three categories of digital training methods: webinar mode, blended mode and hybrid mode. Results: Cadres ranging from lay-counsellors (volunteers in the community), non-specialist health workers to professionals including medical officers are covered with these initiatives. During the period from August 2016 till December 2020, more than 16 million man hours of training is delivered for more than 35,000 participants from across the country. Conclusions: These have a tremendous potential to exponentially increase skilled human resources capable of providing quality care to hitherto unserved remote areas of the rural hinterland and ultimately reduce the burgeoning treatment gap. In-depth outcome assessments are the need of the hour.