The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Who will care for the uncared? What they say… Madurai Matters

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Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007
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Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Who will care for the uncared? What they say… Madurai Matters

S.S.Kavitha

They just sit or lie down in places where sane human beings dare not tread

C. Ramasubramanian, Head, Department of Institute of Psychiatry, GRH: they are left to wander by their family members.

HELPING HAND: A man left uncared for in the city.

MADURAI: Sharpen your eyes the next time you cross a busy street and you can spot some human beings whose existence, perhaps, does not matter even to themselves. Souls which have forgotten their identity, muttering nonsensical gibberish and attired in a haggard, dirty costume and malnourished. Rain or shine, they just sit or lie down in places where sane human beings dare not tread.

Have you ever wondered who are they?

Is there any method in their madness? Yes, they do have, for they are left to wander by their family members who had failed to explore the possibility of treating such persons, says C. Ramasubramanian, Head, Department of Institute of Psychiatry, Government Rajaji Hospital.

N. Krishnan, who feeds these hapless beings two times a day through his Akshaya Trust, says that people on the Madurai streets are those who had been turned away from their homes or elders who suffered ill-treatment. Even the mentally sound beings, after coming to the streets, slowly slip into mental illness due to depression. He says that many of these roadside dwellers were part of groups that had come from North India on pilgrimage and left behind by relatives.

“Out of over 200 people I feed, 150 are Hindi-speaking and 60 to 70 are females,” he says. In the recent drive against beggars in Madurai, one third of them were found to be suffering from mental illness, says Dr. Ramasubramanian.

The Government Rajaji Hospital takes care of about 500 inpatients and 60,000 out patients a year in its 40-bedded ward. Basic psychiatric training is given to doctors at primary health centres, where adequate psychotropic medicines are stocked, under the District Mental Health Programme. Between July 2002 and January 2007, 30, 212 men, 27, 848 women and 6,201 children were treated as outpatients under the programme for various symptoms of mental illness in PHCs of the district.

The area-wise distribution is: Usilampatti: 18,034, Tirumangalam: 12,905, Melur: 8,265, Periayur: 4,516, Vadipatti: 7,336, Sholavandan: 10,681 and Mannadimangalam: 2,524.

Mental illness is similar to other psychological disorders. It affects bio-chemical transmission inside the brain that results in excited or retarded behaviour, says Dr. Ramasubramanian.

It is curable and preventable, he adds. Referring to the Mental Health Act, Dr. Ramasubramanian says that it provides space for public to play a pivotal role.

“It is imperative for Madurai to have a home for the mentally ill, especially for women patients, who undergo all kinds of harassment,” he says.

Echoing similar thoughts, Mr. Krishnan says that the trust has planned to establish a rehabilitation home for the abandoned people at a cost of Rs. 95 lakh on a four-acre plot at Melamathur.

A helping hand has been extended by many, including the IT major, Infosys, and TV Sundaram Iyengar and Sons.

By taking care, let us give a decent life and death for these forgotten souls.

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