NGO-run homes for mentally ill to be inspected
The minister found as many as 59 women patients cramped into four small rooms.
Health Minister Ma Subramanian at Annavasal GH in Pudukkottai during a surprise inspection (Photo: Twitter/@Subramanian_ma)
TIRUCHY: Shocked after finding discrepancies in maintaining the home for mentally ill persons at Annavasal GH in Pudukkottai during a surprise inspection, Health Minister Ma Subramanian suspended the Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Service and transferred the Chief Medical Officer of the GH and ordered a probe into all such facilities run by NGOs across the State.
The minister directed officials to submit a video of the inspection and warned of severe action against any organisation that fails to provide proper care to the patients. When he went on a surprise inspection at the Annavasal GH late on Tuesday night, Subramanian found that a home for the mentally ill, which is maintained by a NGO in the hospital premises, was functioning without following norms.
The minister found as many as 59 women patients cramped into four small rooms. In the absence of beds, many of the patients were found sleeping on the floor. They were not given hygienic food and the entire space was untidy.
Furious over this, he immediately ordered the termination of the contract with the NGO, and suspended JD K Ramu and transferred CMO Saravanan for their failure to monitor the home. He also asked officials to shift the patients to the Pudukkottai Medical College Hospital.
‘All those admitted will be treated’
Speaking to the media at the Pudukkottai Medical College on Wednesday, Health Minister Subramanian said that the patients were shifted under the supervision of the Director of the Institute of Mental Health, Chennai.
“We’ve asked the district-level officials to conduct an elaborate inspection of all such facilities maintained by NGOs across the State and submit a video document of it in 2 weeks. Action will be initiated against those NGOs failing to adhere to the norms,” he said.
Patients who were shifted to the hospital will undergo assessment shortly. “Their family members will be called, and those in better condition will be handed over to them,” he said. “All those who are admitted will be treated.”
Earlier, he had given fruits and new dresses to patients shifted to the hospital.
