Christin Mathew Philip & Pratiksha Ramkumar 29-Apr-2013 CHENNAI: Hidden behind 15ft-high compound walls is an 80-bed privately run home for the mentally ill in Urapakkam, 50km from the city. The home, Oxford Charitable Trust, has around 100 patients, but has not renewed its government licence for more than seven years. "We have not issued a licence to them. They are not registered with us as a private nursing home for the mentally ill," confirmed Dr C Jayaprakash, director of the government Institute of Mental Health (IMH). As per the law, a private mental health nursing or rehabilitation home needs a licence from the IMH or the state mental health authority. The licence has to be renewed every three years. While there are 30 licensed private nursing homes for the mentally ill in the city, there are a number of centres that operate without licences or regulation. Oxford Charitable Trust functions out of a white-washed building. The only entrance is a 6ft high blue gate, which is usually locked. TOI managed to gain entry into the building and found a kitchen with women cutting vegetables and stirring watery sambar. Further inside is a courtyard, surrounded by locked rooms with small windows. On the first floor are women watching television while quietly eating sambar and rice. It could pass off for an old-age home, but residents of Urapakkam say sounds of "women shouting or crying loudly at odd hours" suggest otherwise. "They hit us if we cry, shout or try to escape," said former inmate K Rizmiya, who has filed a petition in the Madras high court against her husband who admitted her there. "The staff would force us to take strong sedatives at night or inject us with medicine to put us to sleep for five days if we shouted," said Rizmiya. She protested the day she was admitted, and woke up in the same spot five days later drenched in her own urine and feces. Oxford Charitable Trust does not fulfill the prerequisites for a mental health nursing home as per the State Mental Health Rules, 1990. "They need a psychiatrist on call and a full-time psychologist and registered social workers," says Dr Sathyanathan, former director, IMH. "They need to have an emergency care unit and an electro-convulsive therapy facility," he said. The owners describe Oxford Charitable Trust as a home for the mentally ill. "We charge Rs 6,000 a month without medicines," says one of the owners, G Ramkumar. "We take care of the patient as long as the guardians want us to." They require a "medical history report and prescription of medicines" for admission. Rizmiya said brokers who hang around IMH falsify medical certificates and admit people in to the home. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Mentally-ill-held-captive-in-asylum-without-licence/articleshow/19774951.cms
'Patients often get beaten up' IMH has only 1,200 beds and has no space for more patients, forcing people to opt for private homes. "Most well-known NGOs and private clinics are also full. With lack of reputable facilities, people get conned by these illegal homes," Dr Sathyanathan, former director, IMH. G Sundaram, an autodriver who often takes people to the home, says he has seen patients being beaten. "When the women use foul language, the caretakers hit them," he says. The home's owners said they got a licence from IMH 10 years ago, but it was not displayed on the gate as per the rules. We do not have an electro-convulsive therapy facility and diagnostic machines. We are only a nursing home and do not require such facilities," said coowner Bhaskar. When questioned further, he refused to comment on the allegations of abuse and threatened to file a police complaint against the reporters. Social welfare minister B Valarmathi told TOI that the Urapakkam home would be inspected. "We are planning to conduct surprise inspections across the state to check if there are other homes without licences. Necessary action will be initiated against violators," she said. http://mobiletoi.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=10§id=edid=&edlabel=TOICH&mydateHid=29-04-2013&pubname=Times+of+India+-+Chennai&edname=&articleid=Ar01006&publabel=TOI Lankan woman seeks Rs 20 lakh for illegal detention 29-Apr-2013 CHENNAI: A Sri Lankan Tamil woman, claiming that her Chennai-based husband had illegally admitted her in a private asylum at Urappakkam here and kept her confined there for 20 months, moved the Madras high court seeking 20 lakh compensation. A division bench comprising Justice K N Basha and Justice P Devadass, before whom the habeas corpus petition of K Rizmiya came up for hearing, summoned her husband Kaja Mohideen to the court, and then referred the case to be settled through mediation. The mediation has been scheduled for June 5. Rizmiya's counsel P Vijendran said she had joined the Abha Hospital in Saudi Arabia as midwife in 2002, and met Kaja Mohideen, a container driver, there. They fell in love and later got married at Ambara in Sri Lanka. When their daughter was three and half years old, he left for Chennai without informing her. Rizmiya said it took her two years to reach Chennai and trace her husband's address, only to realize that Kaja Mohideen was already married with two children. He again persuaded her to return to Saudi Arabia, saying the family needed money to settle in Chennai. According to her, she returned to Chennai in 2008 and insisted that he lived with her. In the guise of taking her to a hospital for treatment, she was admitted in Oxford Mental Health Home at Urappakkam, saying she was insane. Vijendran said Rizmiya said she was in illegal confinement at the 'home' for 20 months. She told TOI that she was administered heavy sedatives and fed cheap food by home managers, who later released her after obtaining her signatures on some papers. "I do not know what was written in that paper," she said in the petition. Noting that she had worked in Saudi Arabia and given her entire earnings to her husband for nearly seven years, Rizmiya said she had approached the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), chief minister's special cell and the city police seeking help to reunite with her husband. Since no help came her way, she filed the present petition seeking 20 lakh as compensation. Rizmiya said in the guise of taking her to a hospital for treatment, her husband Kaja Mohideen admitted her to Oxford Mental Health Home at Urappakkam, saying she was insane http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lankan-woman-seeks-Rs-20-lakh-for-illegal-detention/articleshow/19774996.cms -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
