Several poor and homeless patients suffering from mental disorders have become a burden on the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) – the premiere Government-run hospital in Jharkhand – as it lacks a dedicated psychiatry unit. Paradox is the fact that Ranchi has two Government-run psychiatry institutes – Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) and Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS) – but none have enough space to accommodate the homeless, mentally-ill patients of RIMS for a longer period, Director of RIMS Dr. DK Singh said on Thursday.
“We have so many patients who are suffering from mental disorders, but do not have a place to go. The psychiatry institutes too do not have sufficient beds to accommodate all of them. We refer them to RINPAS, they get treated there, and again some or the other ambulance drops them back at RIMS,” said Singh, adding that he expects civil society organizations to intervene and do something for such patients.
The sorry state of affairs came to light after a patient at RIMS was found eating a dead pigeon on the hospital premises on Tuesday. The picture of the woman hogged media attention and forced the RIMS authorities to probe into the matter. “The patient was mentally unstable. But she is not the only one in RIMS. There are several patients here who need psychiatric intervention,” said Singh.
The woman was admitted in RINPAS on Thursday evening, said doctors from the psychiatry institute. Senior Resident at RINPAS, Dr. Siddharth Sinha said that RINPAS too does not have enough space to accommodate homeless patients for a lifetime. “We never refuse to treat any patient that comes to us through the right channel. But we have limited resources, and we cannot keep every homeless patient here for their entire life,” said Sinha.
He added that RINPAS had several such patients who were staying at the institute since years, but they are gradually being sent home with the help of District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and other NGOs. RINPAS has around 600 operational beds, and the number of patients undergoing treatment there is much higher if the registrations at the Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) are counted. “Any patient who has some or the other psychosis needs special attention and treatment. We are doing our best,” Sinha said.