rooms. The toilet patient ratio was 1:5 and all commodes in the toilet were Indian.
The fan patient ratio was 1:3. The bed occupancy of 540 in 2007 and 525 in 2008
exceeding sanctioned bed strength caused acute congestion and overcrowding.
As a result some patients had to sleep on the floor. The 4 old wards were in a
terrible state of disrepair.
The large sized pavilions accommodating 40 to 50 patients each were quite
unwieldy. The management of a large sized pavilion accommodating an admixture
of young, adolescents, adults and elderly inmates with variegated characters,
temperaments and personalities was extremely difficult. There was no mechanism
for classification and segregation of patients according to age, intensity of ailment
(mild, sever, chronic), prognosis and temperament (withdrawn, aggressive and
normal).
GMHC, Kozhikode should make efforts to reduce the number of beds to 20 in
each ward to comply with the recommendations of Channabasavanna Committee
report that the size of the ward should be small, compact and manageable with
number of beds not exceeding 20 in each ward.
The block exclusively meant for keeping violent and unmanageable patients in
open wards had been designed as per recommendation of NHRC. This block had
6 patients - 3 male and 3 female patients. Each block consisted of an enclosed
room for the bystander in front and a single room behind the enclosure to
accommodate the violent patient and both rooms were separated by a steel door.
Once acute symptoms were controlled and patients started showing improvement
in their disposition they were shifted and integrated with the normal patients in
the family wards.
There were 460 long stay patients on 31 March 2009 and long stay varied from
1 to 15 years. The long stay of patients may be attributed to patients not
responding to treatment due to chronic ailments; reluctance on the part of family
members/relatives to take them home even after their full recovery; non availability
of correct address of family members due to furnishing wrong addresses at the
time of admission; patients admitted involuntarily through Court orders and
patients remained unidentified as their whereabouts were not known; very limited
rehabilitation facilities available in the Govt. Rehabilitation Centre (ASHA Bhawan)
Kozhikode; and extremely limited number of NGOs willing to take up rehabilitation
of mentally ill persons. Despite increased number of admissions and high
occupancy rate, there was no suicide between 2006 and 2008.
Gwalior Mansik Arogyashala (GMA), Gwalior (2nd to 4th February, 2009, 21st
to 24th February, 2010 and 29th January to 1st February, 2011)
The MOs were examining all inmates regularly and their medical examination
included body weight, BP, blood and urine profiles. A number of patients were
having low body weight and they could be victims of undernourishment or
malnutrition.
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National Human Rights Commission