CUTTACK: Rise in number of destitute and mentally ill patients has emerged as a matter of concern for SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) authorities.
At any given point of time, around 150 destitute patients can be found undergoing treatment in different departments of the premier Government hospital of the State. The situation is worse in SCB Mental Health Institute where majority of such patients are being treated. The number of destitute patients undergoing treatment for years at the institute, which has 150 beds, is 81. While the institute has a 20-bed female ward, the number of patients admitted here is 51. Most inmates of the ward have either been rescued from roadside or abandoned by their family members.
The hospital authorities are in a fix as most of the destitute, who have been cured, have nowhere to go. This has led to a crisis owing to shortage of beds for new patients. “In most of the cases, we are unable to discharge the destitute patients even after they are cured as there is neither any claimant for them nor any provision for their rehabilitation,” said SCB Mental Health Institute Director Prof Dr Sarada Prasanna Swain.
Even as the mental health institute also functions as a rehabilitation centre, no rehabilitation programmes are being carried out at the facility due to lack of coordination among Health and Family Welfare, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability and Women and Child Development departments, said sources.
SCBMCH Superintendent Prasanna Kumar Debata said considering the situation, an advisory has been issued to form a separate ward for the destitute in each clinical department of the hospital. He said steps will be taken to rehabilitate the destitute after consultation with the authorities concerned.