The Telemedicine Centre, NIMHANS is a recast of the Telemedicine Network Project of Karnataka which was introduced in 2001 with a hope of bridging the gap between speciality care and remote underserved villages. In collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka; the infrastructure for teleconsultations was set up at NIMHANS, Bengaluru and begun operations in 2007 for providing speciality services under psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery in parallel with other centres in the state providing various other speciality services. Subsequently, over the last decade or so, the telemedicine setup at NIMHANS, Bengaluru has had tremendous coverage and penetration independently with various clinical, academic and training activities across the country which emerged to be named officially as the ‘Telemedicine Centre, NIMHANS’. Further, on 9^th February 2017 the centre expanded its capacity with inauguration of dedicated sound-proof studios and conference hall under the National Medical College Network by Shri. Sanjeeva Kumar, then Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

The Centre has been a pioneer in the field of mental health since its inception in 2007. During the first wave of COVID 19 pandemic, it has contributed in designing the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020 along with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India and thereby making clinical practice possible amidst the contagious disease spread. It has also designed and released the Operational Guidelines for practicing Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Social work consultations and Nursing in collaboration with respective Departments at the Institute.