JAIPUR: The Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) flagship digital mental healthcare initiative, ICMR-MINDS, has been awarded the prestigious Gold Award at the National Awards for e-Governance 2026.
The initiative won under the highly competitive category of “Innovation by Use of AI and Other New Age Technologies for Providing Citizen-Centric Services.” The award, instituted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), recognizes the platform’s groundbreaking use of artificial intelligence to drastically improve access to mental healthcare and strengthen service delivery at the grassroots level.
The honour was presented by Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh during the 29th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) 2026, held in Jaipur on July 1 and 2.
The ceremony was attended by prominent dignitaries, including Rajasthan Minister for Information Technology and Communication Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Rajasthan Chief Secretary V. Srinivas, and DARPG Secretary Nivedita Shukla Verma.
Revolutionizing Care with Artificial Intelligence
ICMR-MINDS is a National Health Research Priority project explicitly focused on integrating the screening and management of mental and substance use disorders with the treatment of other non-communicable diseases.
At the core of the initiative is an advanced, AI-enabled Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS). This technology enables trained frontline healthcare workers to provide standardized mental health screening, comprehensive assessment, follow-up care, and routine management. By offering evidence-based digital guidance, the platform significantly reduces the heavy dependence on highly specialized medical professionals.
The platform boasts several innovative features:
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Standardized digital screening and assessment workflows
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Role-based clinical guidance for non-specialist workers
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Multilingual interfaces and full offline functionality for remote areas
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Gamified features designed to improve long-term user engagement
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Real-time administrative dashboards for monitoring healthcare delivery
Continuity-of-Care Framework
A critical strength of the ICMR-MINDS platform is its continuity-of-care framework, which facilitates highly structured referrals and two-way back-referral mechanisms.
This system allows patients with stable conditions to receive continuous follow-up care at their local, nearby health facilities. Consequently, medical specialists at tertiary institutions are freed up to focus on more severe and complex cases. According to the ICMR, this approach optimizes specialist resources, highly empowers frontline healthcare providers, improves overall treatment adherence, and drastically reduces patient dropout rates.
Nationwide Implementation
The ambitious initiative is currently being rolled out across seven states through strategic partnerships with seven collaborating institutions:
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AIIMS Guwahati (Assam)
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Gujarat Institute of Mental Health, Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
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AIIMS New Delhi (for Haryana)
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St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru (Karnataka)
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AIIMS Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
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AIIMS Bhubaneswar (Odisha)
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PGIMER Chandigarh (for Punjab)
Reacting to the prestigious national recognition, Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research, and Director General of ICMR, reaffirmed the organization’s mission.
“ICMR will continue to develop scalable, data-driven technology solutions to address complex public health challenges. We remain committed to working closely with participating institutions and state health systems to provide affordable, standardized, and high-quality healthcare platforms for people across the country,” Dr. Bahl stated.
The ICMR credited the massive success of the project to its close, ongoing collaboration with the State Health Departments of the seven participating states, along with dedicated healthcare professionals, district health authorities, and field teams.
