‘Never Alone’: AIIMS Delhi to launch 24×7 mental health AI app for students — at just 70 paisa

The initiative is being launched at AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Bhubaneswar and Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Shahdara, he added.

Dr Kumar, who was involved in the making of the app, said the initiative would help students avail mental health diagnosis, as well as offline and online consultation. “There is a lot of stigma attached to seeking mental health care, which is why many students do not want to seek help,” he said.

He further said the app uses Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to clinically evaluate students. The DSM manual is used as a reference to identify a patient’s condition by matching their symptoms and behaviours against the established criteria. The DSM provides a standardised classification system for mental disorders, Dr Kumar added.

The programme focuses on screening, intervention and post intervention follow-up for college and university students.

Dr Kumar said a student, who will have 24X 7 access to the app, can avail virtual and offline consultation offered by mental health and wellness experts at a cost of 70 paisa per day, to be paid by the institute. To enable students to avail the facilities of the app, the institutes will have to approach AIIMS Delhi and subscribe to the service, he added.

“Suicide is a major public health problem…. According to a WHO report, 7.27 lakh people died by suicide in 2021… around 1,925 deaths per day or one every 45 seconds. Approximately, (73%) of these suicides occurred in low income and middle income countries,” said Dr Kumar.

“In India, as per NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data, more than 1.7 lakh people died by suicide in 2022, the highest in 56 years,” he added.

Dr Kumar said that in 2022, young adults in the 18-30 age group accounted for 35% of the total deaths by suicide. This was closely followed by adults in the 30-45 age group, at 32%.

“Public health approach to suicide prevention argues for a major change in the way we think about suicide and its prevention, including an increase in trained mental health professionals,” Dr Kumar said.