Delhi set to get 5 half-way homes

City has options for treatment of mental illness, but not rehabilitation

October 13, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:36 am IST - NEW DELHI:

Rehabilitating patients with mental illness through half-way homes will soon become a reality in the Capital. While there are options for treatment of mental illness in the Capital like at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Dilshad Garden, the city is found severely lacking when it comes to half-way homes.

Half-way homes serve as a stop-gap place for people who have undergone treatment for mental illness before they venture into the real world. The project of constructing half-way homes, which was undertaken at the time of the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government, is now ready to be rolled out with five such homes. The Aam Aadmi Party government is now figuring out how to run these places and will conduct a workshop on Friday to decide on the same.

Mental health experts from all over the country will be part of the brainstorming session-cum-workshop.

“The idea behind this brainstorming session is to discuss how half-way homes are going to be run in the future, because they cannot be run by people in the government alone. We need the support of experts on the subject,” an official from the Social Welfare Department of Delhi government said.

“Whether we run these homes under a Public-Private-Partnership model or with the help of some non-government organisations or institutes for mental health, this will be decided at the workshop. We have invited various stakeholders, including representatives from NGOs, mental health experts and people who are already running half-way homes in other parts of the country to discuss ideas,” the official added.

One half-way home each will come up in Rohini Sector-22, IFC Narela and Dwarka Sector-3, and two at Rohini Sector-3. The homes will also have day-care centres for those who might want to leave a child or family member for a few hours. All five homes will have 25 residential accommodations for patients and several rooms for day-care centre patients.

“Sometimes people who have received treatment for mental illness need a kind of a stop-gap place before they venture into the real world. These places will help provide just that. People who suffer from schizophrenia, depression or other mental illnesses will be given treatment and counselling at these homes. The idea is to provide state-of-the-art facilities at these homes with nurses and counsellors. In the future, we will also try to provide vocational training to the inmates,” added the official.

According to officials, the proposal for making half-way homes was made after directions from the High Court in 2009, after a public interest litigation was filed on the issue.

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