Dr. Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson of Mpower

“I congratulate and applaud the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on the launch of the national tele-counselling number under the tele-MANAS initiative. It is no secret that India has a growing mental health crisis. Even before the pandemic hit us, reports stated that close to 150 million Indians need urgent mental healthcare support and fewer than 30 million people have access to professional help. To tackle such a massive crisis, we are in need of a multipronged approach that can help reach out to as many people as possible and help them with their mental health struggles. One of the best ways to create a country-wide outreach is to create access through toll-free helplines. Our past experience operating the 24×7 toll-free helpline by Mpower and BMC in Maharashtra, Mpower 1:1 Let’s Talk, 24×7 helpline has dealt with over 94,245 calls and our trained mental health professionals have helped countless people to access Mental health counselling when most needed. We are now well-positioned to fulfill our vision of scaling up the helpline’s operations so that we can reach out to all those who need our help and are open to collaborating with the government to support them in running the tele-counselling numbers as needed. I believe that together, we can make a difference in India’s mental health landscape.”