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Minutes of Jan 14 BMC - NGO meeting on Mental Illness
Agenda: What BMC can do regarding issues pertaining to Mental Illness
Present from BMC: Mr. Subrat Ratho, Addl M.C.; Mrs. Seema Redkar, Officer on Special Duty
Present from NGOs: Akila Maheshwari & Chaya Murli - NAMI India; Meena Mutha & Binaifer Jesia of Manav Foundation; Maya Shahani & Akhil Shahani of Shahani Trusts and Times Foundation; Dr. Neerja Chowdhary; Bipin Malia - Atmavishwas Halfway Home; Dr. Vidyadhar Bapat - NAMI Pune; Prof. Namdev Gawas - NAMI Goa; Vinay Somani, Atul Inamdar, John Matthew - Karmayog / NGO Council
Minutes:
1. It was appreciated that Akila Maheshwari of NAMI India took the trouble to organise the meeting under the aegis of the NGO Council. It was appreciated that Mr. Ratho and Mrs. Redkar were willing to meet with the group on a holiday.
2. Mental Disability Certificates - streamlining the process:
Notes: Mental Illness is included in Disabilities Act. The Indian Psychiatric Society has an IDR scale. Above 40% on that is considered as Mentally Ill for the purposes of certificate under the Disabilities Act. There is a Disability Commissioner in Pune (Mr. Gaikwad). There is also a Mah. Mental Health Authority. Guj and TN Govt have empowered public / private doctors to issue certificates, while the process remains extremely cumbersome in Mah.
Disability Certificates are needed for two purposes:
a) to certify as disabled -- to get jobs in the public sector under the 3% job quota
a) to certify as disabled -- to get jobs in the public sector under the 3% job quota
b) to certify as being out of illness -- to get regular jobs in private sector, etc.
The process of getting Disability Certificates is very cumbersome (takes 2-3 years). This should be streamlined. Moreover, all municipal & govt. hospitals which have a psychiatry ward should be empowered to give these.
Decided: Mr. Malia bipinmalia@... will prepare a detailed report on the current system and what it should be -- for submission to BMC.
3. Halfway Home - setting up one:
Notes: There are two types of patients -- a) chronic i.e. who can't recover; b) those who can be rehabilitated
Chronic patients need full-stay homes. Those who can recover need halfway homes where they can spend 3 to 12 months and recover with the help of proper neuro - psycho - socio - medico help e.g. counselling, regular medication, exercise, a different environment, vocational training, etc. Halfway homes are also needed for very short stays e.g. when family members have to go out of town. Mr. Malia is setting up one such home in Valsad. There are no such homes in Mumbai.
Decided: BMC will provide a list of underutilised hospitals and maternity homes. NGOs should check these out for suitability for converting into a halfway home. NGOs should also identify other BMC buildings that may be suitable e.g. the Remand Home at Dongri. While some Municipal Schools may be suitable, these come under 'Education' and not 'Health'.
4. Availability of Medicines - ensuring adequate stock in Municipal Hospitals:
Notes: Municipal Hospitals do not keep adequate stock of standard medicines required by the Mentally Ill even though they should. For many people, due to the high costs of drugs, subsidised prices of medicines through Municipal Hospitals is the only viable option.
Decided: Manav Foundation manavfoundation@... would prepare a list of generally-needed medicines (generic names and not brands) with the help of others in the field. BMC shall ensure that these are requisitioned and kept in stock at all times.
Mrs. Redkar urged NGOs to contact Dr. Seema Malik, Chief Medical Superindent, at Bhabha Hospital, 26406787, 26405226 as she would be a valuable resource.
5. Helping Students in Municipal Schools - sensitizing teachers, identifying students, finding solutions:
Notes: It is very important that Mental Illness be diagnosed as early as possible. NGOs and Psychiatrists are capable of helping and willing to do so. The process could be:
a) NGOs and Psychiatrist Assoc / Counsellors Assoc to sensitise teachers about how to identify such students
b) It should be mandatory that all such identified students take IQ tests and tests via other diagnostic tools.
c) Special Educators should then support such students.
d) If necessary, BMC should set up at least one special school for those students for whom inclusive education is just not doable.
Financial support for all this is easily available under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan.
Decided: Manav Foundation would prepare a concept note with the help of others in the field. BMC shall then discuss this internally and in a joint meeting with NGOs, etc.
6. Creating a demand for such special needs:
Notes: Mr. Ratho explained the various reasons why such needs go unmet. Among those are:
- there is no effective 'demand' from society even though adequate funds are available from municipalities, state and central govts.
- the reason for this is that lay people do not have awareness, etc.
- 'demand for services' need to be created amongst bureaucrats, politicians, society.
- those who need the services have to take the initiative; those who can offer will not -- as they don't understand the significance, or don't care, or it's extra work for them e.g. in reporting or delivering the service.
- ngo's are good in activism i.e. getting policies changed, but there are not enough ngo's working for getting things implemented at the ground level after the policies are in place
- the fact that there are policies esp. new policies means that funds and infrastructure are available
- sensitisation of govt officers through meetings like this one are crucial
Mrs. Redkar pointed out that there are 24 Social Service Workers associated with BMC and urged the group to talk to them - maybe even a joint meeting with all of them. Some of them are:
- Prithibha Chavan - 98198-60480
- S. Patkar - 98207-14459
- Geeta More - 98203-430667
Pre-BMC meeting:
(I was not there for part of the meeting. Chaya is preparing the minutes.)
24X7 Helpline Needed for Info-Help-Support-Counselling-Suicide Prevention:
Notes: Akila narrated her positive experiences of running the NAMI helpline for the last few years. Binaifer gave an insight about various aspects from her long experience with the Samaritans.
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I would urge NGOs and concerned citizens to take the BMC - NGO meetings seriously and participate via email or attending. Please share concept notes, wish lists, charter of demands, experiences, suggestions freely. The BMC - NGO MOU enables a new paradigm of working together. Irrespective of any negative past experiences that you may have with BMC or with NGOs coming together as a group, you should attend these meetings to understand the new joint approach.
Thanks and Regards,
Vinay
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