120 Cured Persons Languishing In Kerala Mental Health Centre

23 November, Kozhikode

As many as 120 cured persons, including 50 from other parts of the country, are still languishing in Government Mental Health Centre, Kuthiravattom in Kozhikode district of Kerala, for different reasons.

Out of this, 50 per cent were women, whose whereabouts were not known, Dr N Rajendran, Superintendent of the hospital, which conducted a mega ‘Discharge Adalat’ for their rehabilitation said.

Some of them hailing from northern part of the country and were continuing in the centre for the last 20 years dreaming to re-unite with their near and dear ones back home.

But they cannot not even recollect their place of origin and unable to communicate with the hospital authorities properly due to language problem,
he said.
Among them were some cured persons hailing from Kerala but cannot go back home as their relatives were hesitant to accept them, he said.

He said the hospital was able to re-unite 35 hapless victims of neglect through the adalat conducted for the last three months. Revealing method of the adalat, he said the hospital staff comprising the Superintendent, doctors, nurses and psychiatric social workers sit together with the cured persons to find out ways and means to rehabilitate them with their family.

After the process, the family members were either summoned or the team met them at their places to convince them to accept their members , he said adding some of them were shifted to other rehabilitation centres.

Chief Judicial Magistate Biju Menon, Sub Judge R L Baiju, City Police Commissioner P A Valsan, Deputy Collector Shamin Sebastian and Social Justice Department representative Joseph Rebello, among others, participated in the recent adalat, he said.

The adalat had decided to extend help by the court and police to locate relatives of the victims, he said adding it also decided to expand its work with involvement of more agencies.