DINDIGUL
A special team of officials on Thursday inspected St. Joseph’s Hospice, a home for the destitute, at J. Mettupatti near Kodai Road, and inquired about the present condition of inmates after it came to light recently that bodies of inmates were being disposed of illegally at the hospice’s centre at Paleswaram in Kancheepuram district.
Led by District Revenue Officer M. Latha, the team, comprising Social Welfare Officer Shanthi, Nilakottai Tahsildar D. Nirmala, Nilakottai DSP Kartikeyan and a medical officer, inspected the facilities and checked the living condition of the inmates.
Hundreds of aged women sought the help of the committee to get out of the hospice. They explained to the team members the “torture and humiliation” they faced in the home for a long time. Some alleged that supervisors beat them up and banged their heads against the wall. They were not allowed to go home.
One of the inmates told that she did not know how she came to this hospice from the government hospital “I was admitted to the GH for treatment. When I woke up, I was here,” she said.
Several inmates told the committee members that they had relatives at their villages to take care of them.
Talking to media persons later, Ms. Latha said 30 persons died in January and 24 in February this year. (Official sources said 319 persons died last year.)
Several inmates were sick and very weak. Doctors did not visit the home regularly. Sanitary facilities were very bad, she added.
Records showed that former Superintendent of Police M. Kandasamy had granted permission to the hospice to bury bodies on the campus. But the method of burying was not mentioned in the order.
Asked whether the hospice authorities informed the government of the inmates’ deaths, Ms. Latha said they did not. Social Welfare Department was the monitoring agency for such hospices, but no official had visited the home for the past 13 years.
“The present Social Welfare Officer, who joined duty two years ago, told me that she had visited the hospice. But there is no record to prove that,” he said.
She said many inmates wanted to go home. “We have taken note of their requests. A detailed report will be submitted to the Collector for further action,” she added.
Collector T.G. Vinay constituted a committee and ordered a detailed probe after Paleswaram incident.
Father R.V. Thomas established the Dindigul hospice in 2006. Now, Jansi Sebastiammal was in-charge of the home, which has 229 inmates.
