Expressing satisfaction over the functioning of ‘Dawa –Dua’, a clinic established at the Erwadi Dargha to treat mentally ill people with a fusion of prayer and medicine, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) proposed to recommend to the Central and State governments to establish such clinics in religious centres across the country.
NHRC member D Murugesan, who visited the Dargah, the faith-based asylum and the clinic here on Monday, said he was satisfied with the prevailing system of treating the mentally ill people, combining with religious faith and suggested that the model be emulated in other parts of the country as well.
“As the method of treating the mentally ill people with prayer and medicine has the desired effect, we will recommend to the Central and State governments to establish such centres in other places of worship, wherever possible,” he told reporters after interacting with a couple of mentally ill persons at the clinic.
He said though the medicines administered at the Dawa-Dua centre were the same as given in other hospitals, they played a ‘magical role’ and helped patients recover fast as patients took the prescription for medicines as divine command after offering prayer at the Dargah. “This is the success of the programme,” he said.
There were prescribed procedures for admitting mentally ill people in an asylum or home run by government and private agencies but here, people thronged the Dargah on their own, solely on faith and belief, he said.
Lacuna in rules
It was unfortunate that in some of the homes, the mentally ill people continued to remain there even after they were completely cured, he said, adding this was because of the lacuna in the rules of the Mental Health Act.
The NHRC has recommended to the Centre to amend the rules to ensure that the cured people were restored with their parents and government homes in case the inmates were orphans, he said.
Mr. Murugesan, the former Delhi High Court Chief Justice, wanted to visit the Dargah to know the conditions of the inmates after the 2001 fire tragedy, in which 28 chained inmates were charred to death. He was accompanied by G M Akbar Ali, former Madras High Court judge, Collector K Nanthakumar and psychiatrist C Ramasubramanian, State Nodal Officer, District Mental Health Programme.
Periyar Lenin, Programme Coordinator, who was visiting the Dawa Dua centre thrice a week, said a total of 1,735 mentally ill people were registered for treatment after the centre was established in November 2012. The prayer-medicine fusion model of treatment was a huge success as about 70 per cent of them were cured, he said.
Commission member says they played a ‘magical role’ in patients’ recovery as they took the prescription as divine command
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