The Department of Mental Health has proposed to establish mental healthcare centres at St Anthony’s Shrine at Puliampatti and at the Vishnu Temple at Gunaseelam on the lines of ‘Dawa Dua’ established in Erwadi with the innovative concept of fusion of prayer and medicine.
As Dawa Dua at the Erwadi Dargah turned out to be a huge success after the authorities offered the treatment to mentally ill people by mixing faith, the department has decided to extend such facilities to other places of religious faith, C. Ramasubramanian, State Nodal Officer, Mental Health Programme said. “To begin with, we will establish the healthcare centres at Puliampatti in Thoothukudi district and Gunaseelam Vishnu Temple, near Tiruchi,” he told The Hindu on the sidelines of an event organised here in connection with the 16th anniversary of “Erwadi fire tragedy.”
The department has already started treating patients with the help of the priest at the St Anthony’s Shrine, the renowned Roman Catholic Church after the church authorities visited Dawa Dua and studied the concept, he said.
The District Mental Health Programme Psychiatrist visited the shrine to attend to the patients, he said. The church was thronged by a large number of people with belief that they returned only after their prayers were answered.
A full fledged mental healthcare centre would come up on the church premises in the next three months, he said adding, a similar centre would also be established at Gunaseelam Temple located on the banks of Kollidam, he added.
He said the department also proposed to offer mental healthcare in all Primary Health Centres in all the 32 districts and conduct periodic mental health camps throughout the State.
