Report on K.E.M. Hospital Psychiatry Department
Dealing with mostly –(B.P.L.) below Poverty Line patients in Slums etc.
By NAMI INDIA
Nodal Association for Mentally Ill India.
Mumbai Office
- Number of Psychiatrists— the posts of psychiatrists who have retired since three years has not been filled up leading to a huge shortage of psychiatrists. What is the reason foe this? The apathy in filling up posts at the BMC hospital must be noted.
- Psychiatric Social Workers—Social Workers recruited for the Psychiatric Department have been diverted to other departments. The social workers are not carrying out visits to the homes of patients for rehabilitation and recovery as there are none. What is the reason for this? Is physical illness about the needs to those struck with mental Illness? Why have the social department allotted to Psychiatric department been diverted? Why are they missing?
- Medications—Why are the essential medications for psychiatry not available? A patient takes medicines for 20 days and if he stops he/she will relapse and get worse. He /she could become violent or suicidal. This is a long term treatment. What is the reason for adequate stocks of basic medication being unavailable? If I go next time to pick up medication, why do I have to rush and buy it in the open market because the stock is not available? Is it a systemic failure of supply chain or tender methods? Minimum stock of 3 months should be available at the hospital. What is the lead time for procurement?
- Counselors– Posts of Counselors are not filled up. Why is that? For mental illness psychological testing is an important ingredient of assessing. Why persons are being turned away. What action was taken to fill up the posts of Counselors
BMC may look into these problems immediately and take corrective action on all four above. It appears the psychiatric department itself would be functioning under great stress and turning people away. We have sent a fax to Dean of K.E.M. Hospital for clarification of the issues above as it requires urgent intervention at the highest level.
Akila Maheshwari