RAAH: A one-stop source of data on mental health centres, professionals

News:The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences(NIMHANS) has compiled a one-stop source online mental health care directory called RAAH app.

Facts:

About RAAH:

• RAAH is a mobile application that can be downloaded on Android and iOS platforms.
• It provides free information to the public on mental health care professionals and mental healthcare centres.
• Mental health professionals and organisations can register and update their information in the directory live for no cost.
• The online directory and mobile app allows people to search for information about professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers among others.

Additional information:

About Mental Healthcare Act,2017:

• The Mental Health Care Act,2017 seeks to ensure the rights of the person with mental illness to receive care and to live a life with dignity.
• The act says that every person shall have a right to access mental health care and treatment from mental health services run or funded by the appropriate government.It also assures free treatment to those who are homeless or below the poverty line
• The Act empowers people with mental illness to make an advance directive that states how he/she wants to be treated for the illness and who his/her nominated representative shall be.
• It envisages the establishment of Central Mental Health Authority and State Mental Health Authority.
• Further,the Act says that mentally ill person shall not be subjected to electro-convulsive therapy without the use of muscle relaxants and anaesthesia.Further, electroconvulsive therapy cannot be used on minors.
• The act also decriminalizes Section 309 for suicide.It states that whoever attempts suicide will be presumed to be under severe stress and shall not be punished for it.

About NIMHANS:

• The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences is a premier medical institution located in Bangalore,India.
• It is the apex centre for mental health and neuroscience education in the country.The institute operates autonomously under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.