The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Rs. 3-crore Central grant likely

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Rs. 3-crore Central grant likely

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 14. A Central Government grant of Rs. 3 crores is expected for implementing the masterplan for developing the Mental Health Centre (MHC) here into a comprehensive mental health care, education and rehabilitation centre by the year 2025, the Health Minister, K. K. Ramachandran, has said.

The Minister, who was on a visit to the MHC on Tuesday to participate in the Government-sponsored Onam feast, also said that the medical board for the certification of mental disability will be instituted at the MHC.

Shortage of nurses

It was pointed out to the Minister that there was a shortage of nurses in the MHC and that the High Court had recommended that a nurse-patient ratio of 1:6 be maintained in mental hospitals. Mr. Ramachandran said that some 1,200 new posts of doctors and nurses had been created in the health sector and that the nurses' shortage in MHC would be given priority. MHC deserved special consideration than any other hospital, he said. Regarding queries on successful rehabilitation programmes for inmates, the Minister said that he would study the issues thoroughly before suggesting solutions.

Visits wards

The Minister visited ward numbers two and three in the hospital and also interacted with some of the patients. He spent some time talking to the women inmates of the chronic patients' ward, who, despite completing treatment were unable to go home. Some of these women, from other North Indian States, spoke about their families to the Minister.

Meanwhile, a Central team, consisting of Mohan Isaac, the head of the Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Rajat Rai, the head of Psychiatry at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Ashish Barat, a New Delhi-based hospital services consultant, had visited MHC on Monday to assess the facilities in the institution.

They had explored the campus, checked the designs for the masterplan and had expressed their satisfaction, hospital sources said.

The Central Government had in the Tenth Plan allocated some Rs. 13 crores for the development of mental health institutions in the country and as MHC was in the `large hospitals' category, an aid of Rs. 3 crores was expected.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News Update

Stories in this Section

Former DGP, eight others chargesheeted

Rs. 3-crore Central grant likely

Sewage overflows into houses in Jagathy area

Probe sought into university union affairs

Plea to declare Halcyon Castle a heritage site

`Jagratha samithis' in panchayats planned

Crackdown on wrong overtaking

Life term for murder

Around the City

In Thiruvananthapuram Today