With Rohini’s Asha Kiran — India’s largest facility for people with mental illness — getting congested, the Delhi Government has decided to construct another such institution in the vicinity of Asha Deep centre in Narela. The announcement confirming the construction came from Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung’s office on Wednesday after he visited Asha Kiran, which houses 906 residents, more than thrice the number it was commissioned for in 1989.
The new facility will be spread over 10 acres and would have capacity to house 700 residents. Principal Secretary (Social Welfare) Satbir Silas Bedi told The Hindu there were no financial constraints for this facility, which is still on the drawing board.
“We are in consultation with the architects already. The home will have specially designed bathrooms and dressing spaces that are required for the patients,” she said. It has been decided in the Governing Body meeting of Asha Kiran that the decorations and colour scheme will also be medically suitable for people with mental illness, Ms. Bedi added.
The project is expected to be completed within three to four years although cost estimates are not ready yet.
Asha Kiran is the only facility of its kind in North India. Last year, its inmates won about 200 medals and trophies and they have won 117 awards already this year. Besides Asha Kiran and Asha Deep there is the Asha Jyoti facility in Hari Nagar. The latter two have a cumulative capacity of 132, including children.
Mr. Jung said the government was committed to increasing capacity and providing modern facilities at these homes. “While man and State can never make up for the injustices of fate, we can do all we can to make them comfortable. The State owes them this,” he said.
According to Dr. Nimesh Desai, director of the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences in Jhilmil, although people with mental illness — currently estimated at two to three per cent of the general population — is decreasing, the burden of their care on the State is bound to increase due to changing family structures.
“Right now, decongestion is necessary at Asha Kiran, but in the long term it is ideal to give the patients opportunities to live in the community. This could be with families, in supported living or group-assisted living. Homes are ideal if they are small,” he said. Dr. Desai explained that large homes tend to become institutions where people stay for decades.
