India prioritizing citizen mental health with T-MANAS

On October 10, 2022, World Mental Health Day, the Indian government launched the T-MANAS (Tele-Mental Health Assistance and Nationally Actionable Plan through States) initiative. T-MANAS aims to increase access to mental health across India.

The state of healthcare in India has been changing. For development across healthcare, India will use newer emerging technology to develop the industry, which will be an enormous opportunity for service providers. Government initiatives for mental healthcare and growing awareness of mental health are two key factors projected to propel market expansion in India, offering expansion opportunities for service providers.

Service providers with healthcare capabilities should understand this massive opportunity that T-MANAS presents. This highlight gives a view to technology service providers about the mental health market across India, and it introduces a newly launched service by the government of India to support mental health.

COVID -19 made mental health and well-being a priority for India

COVID-19 opened a Pandora’s Box of psychosocial stressors, including quarantine, isolation, social distancing, work-life structure, financial instability, academic stress, and online schooling-related stress.

The State of the World’s Children 2021 survey found that nearly 14% of 15 to 24-year-olds in India, or 1 in 7, reported often feeling depressed or having little interest in doing things. Rapid growth in the working-age population in the country is also expected to drive the mental health market in the future. Studies show that the Indian mental health market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 15% from 2022-2028. The global market is expected to grow at 3.5% CAGR over the same period.

A Lancet study published in 2021 showed that depression and anxiety disorders in India increased by 35% due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. In another study by World Health Organization (WHO), India has only about 0.29 psychiatrists and 0.07 psychologists per 100,000 population, highlighting the market gap.

Technology can play a significant role in closing this gap, and start-ups have been on the case. T-MANAS will gain traction due to the Indian government’s prioritization of mental health.

T-MANAS: a mental healthcare service that can reach pan India

T-MANAS is a 24/7 service reachable via a toll-free number (14416); it connects to mental health facilities that provide mental health care through teleservices under the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP). The services have been divided into two tiers, explained in Exhibit 1. T-MANAS designed the cells to provide essential support and counseling to patients, connect them to mental health professionals, and provide emergency psychiatric facilities.

Exhibit 1: A simple T-Manas calling mechanism is customized for all States and UTs supporting all languages.

Information source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Image source: HFS Research, 2022

T-MANAS will be run by a network of 23 tele-mental health centers across India, with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) as a nodal center. IIIT, Bengaluru (International Institute of Information Technology) will provide technical support.

T-MANAS can act as a catalyst of change for India’s mental health offering

T-MANAS is a government initiative that can make a significant impact in helping India to expand its mental health offering. With most of the Indian population living in rural areas, T-MANAS will be a boon for them as India’s rural areas are still deprived of technological advancement compared to urban areas. The opportunities for innovation, building, and investing in mental health care are immense.

Digital and mobile technologies are widening the reach and efficacy of mental health care offerings. New technologies such as AI, blockchain IoT, Cloud, and Metaverse can help us create innovative ways to improve mental health offerings. With the sheer number of people to reach across the country, we need innovation to help us achieve better mental health care across India. With their healthcare expertise, service providers can achieve their financial outcomes and work toward health outcomes for the country, creating a win-win situation.

Service providers are important partners in the development, distribution, and management of T-MANAS. They bring the expertise and skills to address a growing healthcare challenge a modern India faces. As the Indian healthcare market grows, engaging in how to manage this may open up significant partnerships and business opportunities in the future.

The Bottom Line: There is a massive opportunity for service providers across the Indian mental healthcare service landscape, given that digital health-enabled mental health is relatively nascent.

India has embraced innovation and digitization and trying to leap into the future of healthcare. There have been ongoing changes in mental health and wellness offerings through Ayushman Bharat health and wellness initiatives by the ministry of health and family welfare (MoH&FW).

As India’s healthcare industry matures with increased services in mental health, the service provider will benefit from the vast domestic market. The T-MANAS program can act as an agent of change for India’s mental health offerings, producing research opportunities on the technology side for the betterment of delivery to reach the Indian population and with innovative solutions usable in the field.