Inside Psychiatric Hospital: How Kashmiri docs, paramedics take care of non-local patients

By Rabiya Bashir

Srinagar, Mar 28: “Get me biscuits and toffees,” said Julie, to a paramedic at Psychiatric Diseases Hospital Rainawari.
Julie Haider, 20, is non-Kashmiri patient who came to Valley from Kolkata, West Bengal as domestic help to a family living at Saraf Kadal here.
After working for only three-days with the family last year, Julie, who was abandoned by her family, was shifted to hospital for her aggressive behaviour.
According to the hospital staff, Julie was brought to the Valley by some agency providing domestic helps to the people.
“I want to go home and live with my family. I have three brothers and three sisters. We are very poor,” she said.
Doctors in the hospital have been trying hard to reunite her with her family.
Like Julie, 50-year-old OM Prakash, from Vijaypora Jammu, too was abandoned by his family, and has been under the rehabilitative care of the hospital for seven years.
He was shifted to the hospital by Humhama Police station after they found him wandering near the Srinagar Airport.
“We have contacted the Jammu police station, but could not find his family. He is here from the year 2012,” said Sajad Ahmad, a social worker at the hospital.
He said that Prakash has been sharing a proper address and was not changing his statements.
He said that the police has named him Rahim Bakerwal.
Besides them, there are three young non-Kashmiri girls and one men abandoned by their families who are being taken care by the Kashmiri doctors and paramedics at the hospital.
Sajad Ahmad, a paramedic in the hospital, said they treat these non-Kashmiri patients as their own family members.
“We have Hindu as well as Muslim non-locals here, who are abandoned by their families. But we take proper care of them,” he said.
He said that they were searching for their families.
“These people are not now patients, they are normal and can live with their families, but nobody is owns them. They are giving their addresses and then we call different police stations outside to find their families. Sometimes we do not get any response from the police outside,” he said.
He also said they recently contacted Kolkatta police about Julie.
“We are trying very hard to contact their families. We cannot let them suffer on the roads. On humanitarian ground, we are keeping them here, otherwise no hospital would take such person for a long time,” he added.
Doctors in the hospital said that rehabilitative care was important especially to those abandoned by their families.
“While safety and rehabilitation helped most non-local patients to recover, the non-locals need more and different treatments because their culture and language are different. We had many non-locals in this hospital before. We treated them, searched for their families, and sent them home,” said Dr Zaid, a senior Psychiatrist at the hospital.
“As per the Mental Act, the patient shall be discharged after treatment. There is no such hospital outside the state where abandoned patients are being taken care by the staff, “he said.
He also said the doctors can provide medical help but rehabilitation part should have been taken care by other agencies.
“Looking for the families of those abandoned does not come under our hospital. But we do help these helpless patients reach their homes,” he said.
Dr Yasir Hussain Rather, a Psychiatrist in the hospital said that in some places, efforts to help these non-locals seem to be working.
The doctor also said that the hospital has collected money to reunite one of the non-local patients with his family.