An Emergency Care and Recovery Centre, where rescued, abandoned and elderly persons would be given medical treatment and rehabilitation, is ready for inauguration at the Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine at Thoppur.
Madurai is one of the ten districts in the State where the Emergency Care and Recovery Centres are being set up under the National Health Mission (NHM). Under this project, a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed between the Chairman of NHM, Director of Institute of Mental Health, Chennai, and Director of The Banyan, a non- governmental organisation (NGO) from Chennai. In each of the districts, the government authorities, in collaboration with the local NGOs, will run the centres.
Government Rajaji Hospital Dean J. Sangumani said that a block inside the premises of the Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine has been allocated for the Centre.
Sources from the health department say that the centre is likely to be inaugurated within the next few weeks.
A team comprising Collector T. Anbalagan, Joint Director (Health) P. Venkatachalam, police personnel, and members of NGOs will work together in rescue and rehabilitation of the homeless elderly.
P. Santhosh Raj, district psychiatrist under the District Mental Health programme who will lead the Centre, said that there will be 30 beds in the centre - 15 each for male and female. The centre will have four staff nurses, two social workers and three caretakers.
Under this project, the social workers will identify and rescue abandoned elderly from across the district.
After evaluation, medical, psychiatric, psychological and social care will be provided to the inmates.
“Once the patients recover, we will try to reintegrate them with their family members,” said Dr. Santhosh Raj.
In cases where it is not possible for the patients to reintegrate with their families, the government is planning to have separate homes to rehabilitate them, said K. S. P. Janardhan Babu, Director (Programmes) of M. S. Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation - the NGO which has been engaged in the project for Madurai. “This is a pilot project initiated by the State government. As part of the extension activities of the project, the government is also planning to have separate homes to accommodate those abandoned elderly who are unable to reunite with their families,” he added.
Currently, the social workers are identifying the homeless and abandoned elderly across the district, said Usilampatti Revenue Divisional Officer K. V. Rajkumar.
Although NGOs have been working in rescuing and rehabilitating the abandoned elderly, the introduction of this centre will help to provide better medical services to the abandoned, said Mr. Babu.
“Private NGOs are plagued by fund and human resource crunch. But, this centre will improve accessibility to mental health for the abandoned,” he added.
