THERE has been an increase in calls to the Health Ministry’s Psychosocial Support Helpline from January to September this year, says Deputy Health Minister Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang. Aaron said 82.2% of calls received were from people reaching out for emotional support and counselling. From March 2020 to September this year, about 956 cases or 0.4% of the calls received were suspected mental health illnesses. She said that when these people called the Health Ministry’s psychosocial helpline or Talian Kasih, the ministry officers would only forward the calls to the relevant NGOs and agencies. In response, Aaron said any calls received by the ministry’s psychosocial hotline would be analysed and it will be forwarded to the relevant NGOs, according to the nature of the issue.
