The State-run Calcutta Pavlov Hospital began a new experiment here on Wednesday aimed at providing succour to the cured, yet abandoned patients of the mental hospital.
Four of them — all women — began operating a canteen on the hospital premises on Wednesday.
Ratnaboli Ray, an activist associated with Anjali, a mental health rights organisation, who along with the State Health Department has started the initiative, said rehabilitation of such patients remains a challenge both to the government and other agencies.
Their family members seldom visit them and do not want them back, they say. “ Tumi ekhuno bari nie jawa moton hoe ni (You are not well enough to come home). This is what my aunt who pays a visit once a year says,” said Bula Sengupta, a resident of Dhakuria, who has been in the hospital for over four years.
Jyotsna Sarkar, another inmate from Chakdah in Nadia district, said that despite having children and a husband, no one visits her. “I feel very sad at times but what can I do? I have nowhere to go,” she said.
The stories of Rohima Khatun and Rita Das — the other two women who run the facility — are no different.
On Wednesday, some doctors and paramedical staff visited the canteen that primarily serves tea and snacks.
“This is a very good and unique initiative,” said D. Saha, a psychiatrist at the Pavlov Hospital. “This will increase their confidence.”
According to the doctor, a large number of patients stay on at the hospital after their treatment . “In many cases, the patients who are brought here on the orders of court remain here till they die,” he said.
‘Despite having children and husband, no one visits me. I have nowhere to go’
