In a bid to ease the access of patients to mental health facilities as well as professionals, Maharashtra is all set to adopt e-Manas, an online mental healthcare management system.
This system will consist of a statewide digital registry of mental health establishments, mental health professionals, persons with mental illnesses and their treatment records.
According to reports, the e-Manas portal has been developed in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) and is currently being used in Karnataka.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been drafted between NIMHANS, the Karnataka government and Maharashtra, which is likely to be executed in January 2022.
It will take about two to three months to completely adapt and start working on the software. The software will be customised as per Maharashtra’s needs. The state has already sanctioned around ₹70 lakhs for the customisation and technical manpower.
Also Read: District Mental Health Programme to begin in Mumbai soon
The e-Manas software has a clinical module for professionals, a mental healthcare directory module for registrations of facilities and professionals and a patient module where users can fill or download advanced directive applications, raise grievances in front of the Mental Health Review Board and access their treatment history.
Access to the patient data will be granted through one-time passwords (OTPs) authorised by patients. Thus, if a patient moves on to consult another doctor or migrates to another city within the state, his treatment history can be accessed by the new treating doctor.
The state government of Maharashtra, in a recently taken decision, informed that a total of eight Mental Health Review Boards (MHRB) will be formed in the state, and will function across regional mental health hospitals. The respective mental health boards in Maharashtra will be operational from February 2022.
The decision has been taken under the mandate of the Mental Healthcare Act (2017) focused towards providing a review board for every district in India. The Act also ensures that a person is given the right to make a directive regarding the treatment for mental health-related illness and sharing the information about their nominated representative.
Read More: Mental Healthcare Act yet to be implemented in Maharashtra
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