The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru will be expanding its facilities and build a new campus to cater to individuals living in North Bengaluru.
As per a press release from the institute, this new building will make the hospital facilities more accessible to people living in northern parts of the city.
“Every year, nearly six lakh patients make use of these services. To make services more accessible, in the northern part of Bengaluru, NIMHANS is setting up out-patient and counselling services for trauma and mental health. This is a forerunner of a larger hospital complex that it has been planning,” said the release.
The expansion of NIMHANS facilities is also part of the Karnataka’s e-Manas initiative. The Karnataka Mental Healthcare Management System (e-Manas) is an IT-based digital platform to manage mental health care services as per the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (MHCA). This digital initiative is a government collaborative with NIMHANS, the e-Health Research Centre (EHRC), and International Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru (IIIT-B).
“The software supports a Karnataka state-wide registry of MHEs and Mental Health Professionals (MHPs) and the e-Manas portal also provides effective redressal of grievances arising during the care of a person with mental illness by linking it with respective Mental Health Review Boards (MHRB),” read a report issued by the state government in May about the e-Manas portal.
The foundation stone for the new building will be virtually laid by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa from the Vidhana Soudha on Friday. The event will also mark the inauguration of the e-Manas portal. It will be live-streamed on NIMHANS’ Youtube channel.
Once the e-Manas platform is up and running, hospitals and mental healthcare providers can register online for easier access to individuals to verify.
This comes as a relief when the lockdown has left several individuals without adequate access to mental healthcare, which has highlighted the need to address various mental health-related grievances.