The Kidney Patients Welfare Society, founded by the district panchayat, is planning to embark on a project to take care of people suffering from various mental illnesses. The project will get a final shape at a district-level meeting in Kozhikode on November 14.
The Social Welfare Department and the district panchayat will fund the scheme, to be implemented with the help of various local bodies and voluntary organisations in the sector. In the first phase, medical camps will be conducted to screen patients. Patients will get all support including medicines and rehabilitation assistance.
The Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) will conduct mobile clinics and screen patients. Panchayat-level surveys too will be conducted to prepare a database of mentally ill people.
K. Madhusoodanan, project coordinator and executive committee member of Snehasparsham project, says the project is likely to get an initial aid of Rs.2 crore from the Social Welfare Department. Also, there is a proposal to utilise the land with the local body at Chengottukavu to set up a rehabilitation centre exclusively for those with mental illnesses, he says.
At present, 120 people are undergoing treatment at the Government Mental Health Centre, Kuthiravattom. They will get assistance in the first phase. The group includes 58 men and 62 women.
Mr. Madhusoodanan says the figure provided by the district police too is a matter of concern for the society. “As per police records, there are over 600 mentally ill people living on the streets of Kozhikode alone, who need better medication and social care, he says.
The society takes up the new mission after scripting a success story in mobilising over Rs.2.50 crore for the treatment of kidney patients in the economically weaker sections of society. Now, the project extends its help to over 700 patients from various parts of the district.
The new scheme will be depend on funds provided by socially minded organisations and individuals, he says.
