Pune: At most mental hospitals in India, women inmates want to go back home
Most of the patients expressed concerns not about the care in the hospital, but whether their families would take them home or visit them.
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Regional Mental Hospital at Yerawada
Concerned about the condition of women suffering from mental disorders, the National Commission for Women, in collaboration with National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore, has conducted a research study on the condition of women admitted to psychiatric institutions in India.
This included on-site visits to Regional Mental Hospital at Yerawada in Pune, RMH Thane, IPHB Goa, GMH Kozhikode, Kerala, Calcutta Pavlov Hospital and Berhampore Mental Hospital in West Bengal, RINPAS in Jharkhand, IMHH Agra and MH Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and IMH Amritsar in Punjab, all chosen based on high numbers of long-stay patients. Across all these hospitals, the common refrain was that the women wanted to go back home to their families.
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NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam said the research study explored the clinical, social, cultural, economic and legal factors that are likely to affect the lives of women with mental illness and has recommended that long stay must be discouraged by improving the awareness of families regarding mental illness and sensitising the judiciary.
Most of the patients expressed concerns not about the care in the hospital, but whether their families would take them home or visit them. A majority wanted to go home to their families. Wrong addresses, cases of abandonment were not uncommon.
The women who had been in the hospital for long and had not seen the world outside perceived they were getting the best facilities, the study found.
A meeting was held on September 6 by the NCW and heads of psychiatric institutions were told to focus on the recommendations made by the study report.
Long-stay women in the various hospitals should be helped to establish their identity (Aadhar card), which is necessary in many cases to avail of any benefits.
Donglikar said as many as 174 women have got Aadhar cards at the RMH in Pune.
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