VIJAYAWADA: The Shraddha Foundation, in association with the state government, has launched “Mano Bandhu”, a website to report on homeless people mentally ill for their rehabilitation and possible reunification with their families.
Ajeya Kallam, senior adviser to AP CM, launched the website on Tuesday. According to a memorandum of understanding between the Shraddha Foundation and the AP government, the foundation will pick up the mentally ill from the streets. It will treat them and then try to reunite them with their families, as is already being done in Tamil Nadu.
Shraddha’s founding trustee, B. Ramakrishna Raju, said that over the past eight months, his foundation has already transferred more than 110 homeless people, who were wandering in and around Visakhapatnam city, to the Government Mental Hospital for treatment.
He regretted that there are no shelters for patients with mental problems, although according to the Mental Health Law of 2017, there should be two shelters, one for men and one for women. He said it is shameful that even today some of the mentally disturbed are chained or locked in dirty rooms, intimidated and beaten by their relatives.
Ramakrishna Raju said that Mano Bandhu will raise awareness among the public about mental health services available for such patients.
Foundation Associate Member Dr. M. Suresh Babu said they are launching a study in collaboration with LibTech India on homeless people with mental illness wandering in PHC and possible solutions to improve their situation. His team will visit the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences, New Delhi, and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, to identify best practices as part of their field study.
