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WOMEN OF THE WEEK

A beautiful mind

She brought about sweeping reforms in mental health care. Meet Dr. Sarada Menon of SCARF

PIONEER IN PSYCHIATRY Dr. Sarada Menon Photo: Vino John

As a teenager she had asked: What makes mom agree to something she'd refused earlier? What causes unusual behaviour? She took up psychiatry to find out — MBBS in 1947, Professor at the Mental Hospital, Ayanavaram, two years at NIMHANS, Bangalore, Assistant Surgeon at the Madras Mental Hospital with collateral duty at the Stanley Hospital, MD in 1959, Diploma in Psychiatric Medicine, FAPA, FRCPsych, Reader at MMC and Superintendent of MMH (now Institute of Mental Health) in 1961. After 56 years of psychiatric practice, Dr. M. Sarada Menon knows all the answers.

In 1961, hospitals were just custodial prisons for the mentally ill. Tucking up her sari, with broom in hand, Dr. Sarada set out to remove the cobwebs, in the minds of those who ran the mental hospital systems. In 17 years of "sweeping" reforms, she turned the asylum into a mental health centre, changed mindsets about the illness, both inside and outside its walls.

"When I took over, there were 2,800 patients in a hospital meant for 888," she begins. She launched a twin attack — reduce admissions and increase discharge. As she improved the infrastructure, she got case sheets prepared, admitted only when necessary and made those within a 5 km radius outpatients. In a far-reaching plan, she introduced professional social workers. They would manage the mentally ill, counsel family members and trace families that tried to abandon them. She released the patients under lock and key and put them in her industrial therapy centre, the first of its kind in the country. There they had group therapy and vocational training. Patients went out for recreation and listened to music indoors.

Training programmes

She changed the menu and got the MOs to supervise meals. She began training programmes for the staff and initiated post-graduate courses in psychological medicine. She then persuaded the Government to arrange for every district hospital to have a psychiatric clinic with a qualified analyst. "I was one of the few psychiatrists in the Fifties. Today many qualify at Government expense and catch the next flight abroad. Why can't they be asked to do compulsory service in the districts for a time?" Good question, that.

Dr. Sarada invited outsiders to join her campaign for multiple therapy. St. Andrews Church took them out, Marthoma Church gave them a Christmas treat and Law College students came in for a game of cricket. "Now the hospital has modern kitchen equipment and a laundry donated by the public." She roped in the YWCA to start a home for "unclaimed" women and Seva Sadan to employ them. She encouraged NGOs like ASHA to start care-giver associations. The "dumping yard" for the mentally ill became one of the best state-run institutions in India. When she retired in 1978, she "had just one regret. I wanted to build community homes for the rehabilitated patients. Land was available."

Good work continues

She wouldn't rest. A psycho clinic at the Port Trust Hospital and five years as vice president Red Cross later, in January 1984 she converted part of her house into the Schizophrenia Research Foundation. It would conduct research, hold discussions and educate the public. Now in Anna Nagar, SCARF Daycare Centre offers stigma-erasing rehab, drugs and transport free of cost. She opened Bhavishya Bhavan, a half-way home for women patients at Thiruverkadu, one at Mahabalipuram for men and outreach programmes for rural patients. She appealed to the Chief Minister for annual grant increase and equal opportunities for the mentally ill. And wrote scores of articles on the subject. No, she can't remember the number of awards she has won.

Is hard work with a purpose the right prescription for mental health? At 83, Dr. Sarada sees patients for nearly 6 hours at her Kilpauk clinic. "I worry a lot about them," she says. "The three major women's hospitals in the city have no psychiatrists. We need counsellors and I'm trying my best to push it across. Families should accept the condition. Adult onset mental illness can be managed with drugs and rehab. Patients can get back to near normal life." She also wants filmmakers to stop caricaturing psychiatrists (yes, she did watch that recent one) and patients. "I shall stop at nothing," she says as she walks me to the door.

GEETA PADMANABHAN

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