| Workshop Proceedings and Recommendations | ||||||||||
In present scenario mental health care facilities are negligible and the number of trained doctors, other medical staff and social workers trained in mental health fall far short of the requirements. Access to care is further exacerbated by the fact that mental health care facilities are nearly non-existent in the rural areas and even in the urban areas not easily accessible. Care for the mentally ill homeless is even worse as most institutions, government, private or NGO run, do not cater to those without families. Especially for homeless mentally ill women, this lack of access to any care facility or support, results in terrible forms of abuse and neglect. At the presentation of the individual working groups, the chairperson of the Women's Commission of Tamil Nadu provided feedback and highlighted the need to bringing mental illness onto the agenda of the general public. The workshop identified 24 points of action. These have been put together as a manifest, which highlights the right to mental health care as a basic right. The manifest addresses the need to integrate mental health care into basic/primary health care and to involve community caregivers in the early identification, care and follow up. It also calls for a review of the current process of institutionalising persons with mental illness and of the role of the police and the judiciary in the process. Creating general awareness and sensitising the medical profession, the judiciary and police, the administration as well as the general public on the right and the need for care was identified as a critical element to ensuring that the homeless mentally ill are given their rights. Group proceedings:
|
||||||||||