Addiction is emerging as a serious health problem in India. While there is an explosion in the scientific knowledge in this area, there is a huge gap in the treatment due to lack of skilled resources. There is a significant disparity in the standards of care and underutilization of the available treatment.

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), a multidisciplinary institute for patient care and academic pursuit in the field of mental health and neurosciences acknowledges this gap and has partnered with ECHO India Trust to start VKN NIMHANS ECHO clinics. Using the ECHO modelä, NIMHANS aims to expand the capacity to provide best patient care for addiction and mental health among healthcare professionals and assess the outcomes in India.

The VKN NIMHANS ECHO clinic is a weekly clinic adapting a continuous interactive process to help develop the required skills. The key objectives of this clinic are to reduce the variations in standard of care, sharing of “best practice” models, sharing of “wisdom” along with “clinical practice guidelines” and continued handholding and development of a learning loop rather than a single or few sessions.

NIMHANS is currently running teleECHO clinics on various aspects of Mental Health. They have also collaborated with the government of Bihar to mentor the government psychiatrists on a regular basis. The governments of Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are in touch with them to start similar projects with their psychiatrists.