A Different Track

So much so that for the first time,a marketing executive has been appointed to ensure that the products made by the inmates are sold at various organisations and institutes. Dr Vilas Bhailume,medical superintendent of the hospital,says,“We are getting an encouraging response from the corporate sector and hence have appointed a marketing executive to liaise with the IT firms,” he said.

At the garden developed by the inmates, 50-year-old Ravi Sonkamble from Khed tehsil in Pune district,who is a farmer and loves to grow vegetables,says that his favourite time of the day is spent here. Afflicted with schizophrenia,Sonkamble,who has been admitted more than three times at the regional mental hospital,longs to return home. “Mi ghari lavkar jaanar (I will go home soon),”says Sonkamble,digging the earth laboriously as he gets ready to plant another sapling.

At the carpentry unit ,Jagannath Shinde from Latur district in Maharashtra is quiet,only when he is at the machine. “Most of the patients suffering from schizophrenia need to be engaged in some kind of activity that is monotonous. It could be constantly weaving discarded yarn at the handloom or then folding and cutting newspaper to make bags,” says social worker Rohini Bhosale.

According to Vidya Survyavanshi,occupational therapist,long term treatment of the patients with mental illness is crucial so that they can be rehabilitated in society. Most of the patients are now being motivated to join sports like table tennis that improves concentration,says Suryavanshi,adding that a team of attendants also move in various wards with musical instruments as part of the group music therapy. While around 200 patients are discharged every month,Bhailume warns that it is important that the patients adhere to the treatment regimen and continue with medicines as there is a chance of relapse among 30 to 40 per cent of the patients.

(Names of the patients are changed to protect their identities)