Mumbai: The case of Francis Gomes which, coincidentally, came to light a few days before World Mental Health Week (October 4 to 10), may not be an isolated one, say psychiatrists.
Gomes, who kept his three daughters and wife locked up in their Vasai apartment, may have been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Unfortunately, not the family, nor the neighbours or even members the NGO that rescued Gomes' wife and daughters, were aware of this, a psychiatrist said, adding that she was "least surprised" by this sort of ignorance.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, nearly one per cent of the global population suffers from some mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, personality disorder and mania. In Mumbai, psychiatrists estimate it could be between 1.5 and two per cent. And yet, the lack of awareness and neglect is shocking.
Less than one per cent of the total health budget is devoted to mental health, said sources. Mumbai, with its population of 1.4 crore, has only 400-odd beds for the mentally ill in its public hospitals. People with mental disorders have little choice but to go to psychiatrists with private practice, who are expensive. To make matters worse, there is an acute shortage of psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors and social workers in India.
"It is a vicious circle. There is an acute lack of facilities in the city, which results in a lack of financial support from the government. And this, in turn, perpetuates the lack of awareness about mental health in general," says Yvette Lee, a social worker with the Manav Foundation, a day-care centre for psycho-social rehabilitation.
"It's not difficult to approach anyone for help. But mentally-ill people and their families are not able to readily seek help either," she says, given the stigma attached to this.
Even though mental health disorders are hard to cope with, there are a number of new therapies and medication that can help bring the disorders under control. "In the last 30 years, we have had remarkable improvement in treatment. A number of drugs are now available which control, treat and, to some extent even cure, the disease. There are a number of psycho-social, behavioural and rehabilitative programmes for patients," says Dr YA Matcheswalla, head of the Department of Psychiatry at Messina Hospital.
This hospital in Byculla, for instance, has a special 110-bed ward exclusively for psychiatric patients, along with a special ambulance for them. Support groups like Dilaasa, which tend to over 150 family members of patients of schizophrenia, also share a bit of the burden. Still, this is hardly enough, experts say.
source: DNA
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