The Institute of Mental Health on Tuesday admitted 93 mentally ill persons who were identified by the Chennai Corporation and treated by the Communicable Diseases Hospital.
Speaking at a function organised at the Communicable Diseases Hospital at Tondiarpet, Mayor M. Subramanian said, “The Corporation will continue to locate abandoned persons who are mentally ill and take measures to rehabilitate them.”
The civic body has enumerated 420 persons with mental illness on the city's streets and has collected 152 photographs of such people who had been housed in the Communicable Diseases Hospital.
A total of 12 families were able to trace their relatives who were lost on account of mild mental disorder, said Mr. Subramanian.
The civic body has sent 20 persons among those photographed to old age homes as they were found to have illness pertaining to old age.
The Communicable Diseases Hospital has retained 24 of the patients for medical intervention as it has found the treatment necessary before sending them to the Institute of Mental Health. Three of the patients were referred to the government hospital for treatment.
Mr.Subramanian said that the Corporation had put up details of abandoned, mentally ill persons in the city on its website and the information was being used by people to locate the mentally ill.
“We have transferred 93 patients under the special provisions of the Indian Mental Health Act. We will monitor them for three months and a panel of psychiatrists would take decision on treatment,” said R. Sathianathan, Director of Institute of Mental Health.
