Tele-Manas’s network issues prevent staff from calling back users

CHENNAI: Callers to the mental health helpline 14416 have been facing accessibility issues while calling the helpline. Tele-Manas services were not functional on certain accounts and the call-back made to the callers came only about 1.5 hours later.

Jayanthi (27), while trying to reach 14416 during a breakdown, was unable to access counsellors on the helpline, and received an automated audio message: “We regret to inform you that the Tele-Manas services are not available right now.”

Despite multiple attempts, she could not reach the representatives and received a call back only around 90 minutes later when she had sought some alternative help.

This is not an isolated incident. Similar experiences were reported earlier this year as well. Though 14416 has been active for more than a year, network connectivity issues and lack of adequate human resources are a challenge. Additionally, calls also do not connected if counsellors are speaking to other callers.

Representatives from the helpline said that 14416 is functional 24/7 and that only in case of network issues, calls do not come through. “We receive calls on all days and there are about 100 calls received from across Tamil Nadu every day. Even if we face certain difficulties calling back due to network issues, we make multiple attempts to reach them,” said a senior official from Tele-Manas.

However, in case of counsellors and representatives being busy on other calls, new callers receive a certain message that the helpline is unavailable.

“We make many attempts to call back as per the wait-list as soon as our representatives are available,” added the official.

These issues highlight the need to equip the helpline with more staff and an improved efficient system to make the system more efficient and accessible.