The SCB Medical College Hospital here turned a place for reuniting two mentally ill youths with their parents after years.
It was a tale of two anguished families after their mentally ill sons had gone missing for long periods of time. Finally, the parents got their boys on Saturday at the Mental Health Institute of this premier medical institute where they were undergoing treatment.
Babula Das of Nilgiri in Baleswar district and 22-year-old Paban Kumar of Chhattisgarh were missing from their homes 20 years and six months ago, respectively. The families were unaware of their whereabouts. Even, they had lost hope of their sons’ aliveness.
Babula returned to his home on Saturday. His family was overwhelmed when they came to know about him that he is alive and undergoing treatment at the SCB. Babula had gone away in 1998 after he lost his mental balance. Despite frantic search, his family failed to find him.
A member of the Baleswar-based NGO who admitted Babula to the SCB after rescuing him three years back. Babula’s family members rushed to the hospital to bring him back home after they got information about him.
Similarly, Paban Kumar, who was suffering from mental illness, had suddenly disappeared from home six months ago.
His family thought that he was no more.
However, his father reached the SCB Hospital to take him home after knowing about his aliveness a few days back.
Both the patients made their way back homes with cooperation from Mental Health Institute Director Prof Dr Sarada Prasanna Swain and other doctors.
Presently, total 81 helpless patients suffering from various mental diseases are undergoing treatment at the SCB Mental Health Institute.
Mostly the patients are coming to the hospital after being rescued from different locations while several families are dropping the patients here for without following any admission procedure, said Dr Swain.
As these patients are not being rehabilitated properly, their number is increasing day by day. It’s high time the district administrations as well as NGOs were concerned about rehabilitation of such patients, he added.