Call to rescue mentally ill homeless persons in State

Noted social worker and recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award Sandeep Pandey on Friday said mentally ill destitute persons roaming on the roads was a serious issue and people should try to reach out to them with whatever help they could offer.

Speaking after flagging off an ambulance acquired by a local NGO Mano Bandhu Foundation, to be used for rescue and rehabilitation of the mentally challenged and homeless persons in the State, Mr. Pandey said the organisation was launched to address “this neglected issue effectively”.

Founder of Mano Bandhu Foundation B. Ramakrishnam Raju said the sight of mentally challenged destitute persons roaming on the roads, living in wretched conditions was disturbing.

To address this problem, the organisation was launched on October 26 last year in Vijayawada, he said, informing that it had reached out to nearly 80 destitute persons in the last six months from Visakhapatnam and its surrounding areas and had reunited them with their family members after their medical treatment.

Mr. Raju thanked Hyderabad-based ValueLabs for donating the ambulance and said a team of volunteers from Mano Bandhu would visit the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, New Delhi, and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences to identify best practices in this field. “We will also meet officials of the Health, Police and other departments in the State to take the movement forward effectively,” he said.

Senior psychiatrist Indla Ramasubba Reddy and others were present.