NAGPUR: Patients of Nagpur Mental Hospital, who have recovered but have been abandoned by their families, can expect some improvement in their life soon. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the Mental Hospital authorities are working on a plan to rehabilitate 50 such patients. The shelter for such patients under Sudama Mitra Yojana was announced in the civic budget for 2012-13. NMC will become the first civic agency in the country to construct such a shelter.
The shelter is needed since patients who recovered from their illness even 30 to 40 years ago are still living in the hospital after their families refused to take them back. A patient, who recovered in 1957, has spent 55 years in the hospital. Neither the central nor the state government has a policy for their rehabilitation.
NMC standing committee chairperson Dayashankar Tiwari said there are around 275 patients who have recovered and can lead a normal life if they continue their medication. "Among them, 50 need to be shifted out of the hospital premises. Their medical needs will be taken care of. Doctors of the Mental Hospital will continue to visit patients in the shelter and an NGO will employ nurses for round-the-clock assistance. The shelter will have an ambulance too."
Dr Abhay Gajbhiye, medical superintendent of the Mental Hospital, told TOI that these patients were engaged in some activities in the hospital. "Our plan is to provide facilities to them so that they can continue their activities. We will also teach them new skills so that they can earn something and feel they are productive members of the society. This will boost their self-esteem. Moreover, if a patient earns some money, there is a possibility that his family members will take him back."
"We will contact their family members and ask them to visit the patient at least once a week. Our ultimate aim is to convince the family members to take back the cured patients," Dr Gajbhiye said.
Elaborating on the project, Tiwari said that NGO Lotus Sporting & Cultural Association was interested in running such a shelter. "However, as per law, mental patients can't be handed over to social organizations. NMC is deemed to be a government body and hence we have their custody. So, NMC will provide the infrastructure while the NGO will bear the day-to-day expenses."
The BJP leader said that the project was extremely challenging. "We will need separate wards for male and female patients and hence separate staff. We have identified two NMC schools that have been shut down to set up the shelter. If the shelter cannot be housed there, we will construct a shelter on the open land near Pachpaoli Ayurvedic Hospital."
He said that some 25 families, one of whose members was a mental patient, had evinced interest in the project. "They have told us that they would like to spend some time in the shelter and help the patients. Some have even showed willingness to take a patient to their home for a day or two, to prove that the patient is perfectly all right."
Commenting on the reasons for abandonment of the patients by their family members, Dr Gajbhiye said, "One of the major problems is that people fear that presence of mental patients will hamper the marriage prospects of girls in the family. There are financial reasons too. If the patient stays at the Mental Hospital there is no way he can stake claim to property etc. This happens in case of relatively well off families too."
"In some cases, the families live in small homes and feel that the patient would further congest the house. Some people feel that the patient will be a financial burden on them," Dr Gajbhiye said.
The shelter is needed since patients who recovered from their illness even 30 to 40 years ago are still living in the hospital after their families refused to take them back. A patient, who recovered in 1957, has spent 55 years in the hospital. Neither the central nor the state government has a policy for their rehabilitation.
NMC standing committee chairperson Dayashankar Tiwari said there are around 275 patients who have recovered and can lead a normal life if they continue their medication. "Among them, 50 need to be shifted out of the hospital premises. Their medical needs will be taken care of. Doctors of the Mental Hospital will continue to visit patients in the shelter and an NGO will employ nurses for round-the-clock assistance. The shelter will have an ambulance too."
Dr Abhay Gajbhiye, medical superintendent of the Mental Hospital, told TOI that these patients were engaged in some activities in the hospital. "Our plan is to provide facilities to them so that they can continue their activities. We will also teach them new skills so that they can earn something and feel they are productive members of the society. This will boost their self-esteem. Moreover, if a patient earns some money, there is a possibility that his family members will take him back."
"We will contact their family members and ask them to visit the patient at least once a week. Our ultimate aim is to convince the family members to take back the cured patients," Dr Gajbhiye said.
Elaborating on the project, Tiwari said that NGO Lotus Sporting & Cultural Association was interested in running such a shelter. "However, as per law, mental patients can't be handed over to social organizations. NMC is deemed to be a government body and hence we have their custody. So, NMC will provide the infrastructure while the NGO will bear the day-to-day expenses."
The BJP leader said that the project was extremely challenging. "We will need separate wards for male and female patients and hence separate staff. We have identified two NMC schools that have been shut down to set up the shelter. If the shelter cannot be housed there, we will construct a shelter on the open land near Pachpaoli Ayurvedic Hospital."
He said that some 25 families, one of whose members was a mental patient, had evinced interest in the project. "They have told us that they would like to spend some time in the shelter and help the patients. Some have even showed willingness to take a patient to their home for a day or two, to prove that the patient is perfectly all right."
Commenting on the reasons for abandonment of the patients by their family members, Dr Gajbhiye said, "One of the major problems is that people fear that presence of mental patients will hamper the marriage prospects of girls in the family. There are financial reasons too. If the patient stays at the Mental Hospital there is no way he can stake claim to property etc. This happens in case of relatively well off families too."
"In some cases, the families live in small homes and feel that the patient would further congest the house. Some people feel that the patient will be a financial burden on them," Dr Gajbhiye said.
No comments:
Post a Comment