Forty-nine residents of Coimbatore Corporation’s Night Shelter, suspected of being mentally ill, will be taken to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in the next few days for psychiatric assessment.
A psychiatrist from the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital recommended that 36 of the 49 be taken for psychiatric assessment, another 12 be taken for treatment and one more treated for dementia, said City Health Officer P. Aruna. District Differently abled Rehabilitation Officer S. Mathivanan said that his office would take the next course of action based on the psychiatrists’ recommendation. It would also make efforts to have the home of the mentally ill reopened. A group of volunteers from Rathinapuri cut the residents’ nails and bathed them. Sreenivasan, a volunteer, said that the group was doing so every two months for the past few months.
Corporation Commissioner G. Latha said that she had issued instructions to the shelter’s caretaker K. Gangadharan not to take in mentally ill people.