The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Back to where they belong

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Friday, Jul 10, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Back to where they belong

S. Harpal Singh

Thanks to efforts of the local police and a former District Legal Services Authority official, four mentally-challenged persons recover from illness to lead normal life

-PHOTO: G. SANJEEV REDDY

NEW BEGINNING: Adilabad One Town SI D.A. John Diwakar talking to the four persons after they were cured of their mental illness in Adilabad.

ADILABAD: If someone wants to know what it feels to be back from the oblivion wrought by mental illness, he should meet the four mentally challenged persons from Adilabad who were given treatment at the Erragadda mental hospital in Hyderabad.

Tippe Pramila, Guda Jamuna, Pattepu Posani and Rajanna alias Janardhan, the ones in question look more than happy to get back their cognitive powers thanks to efforts of the local police.

“M. Krishnappa, the then secretary of Adilabad District Legal Services Authority, found the foursome on the streets of Adilabad and suggested we get them treated on government expense. We picked up these persons who were in an utterly bad shape and admitted them to the Erragadda mental hospital in November 2008,” recalls One Town SI D. A. John Diwakar.

“When we first picked them up, all the four were in no mood to get their badly tangled hair shorn. They loitered about in tatters and we had to get them decent clothes before they were sent to the mental hospital,” he adds.

In good condition

“We were in touch with the doctors at the hospital to get updates on their condition. We brought the patients back on July 7 as the doctors said their good condition warranted their release. All the four will have to continue taking medicine for some more time and we will evolve a monitoring system. While, the three women have homes in Adilabad to go back to, we will accommodate Janardhan at some place where he can be cared for,” Mr. Diwakar said. Though she is amnesiac like the other three about the period spent on the streets, Guda Jamuna is happy to be back with her relations. She was abandoned by them when her condition was found untreatable locally.

Tippe Pramila and Pattepu Posani also said they will be happy to go home. Janardhan says he hails from Bhuvanigiri in Nalgonda district and so will stay in some rescue home for the time being.

The four persons were produced in the court recently before they ventured out on their own.

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