Three women huddled on an iron cot, without any clothes. The mattress was removed to provide them respite from bed bugs. In the adjoining ward for male inmates, men crouched on the floor, naked, bereft of minimum basic living conditions. Three other men, also naked, were made to stand in a row as some members of the staff of the Berhampore Mental Hospital laughed and jeered.
The photographs taken by activists during a visit to the mental health facility in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district earlier this week have created a huge furore, forcing the West Bengal Health Department to take cognisance of the denial of basic human rights to the patients. About 50 patients in the facility were found to be “naked” by the activists.
“We have received a complaint. We will send an inspection team to the hospital,” Director of Health Services B.R. Sathapathy told The Hindu.
While Dr. Sathapathy said the team would make a surprise visit to the mental health facility, one of the patients of the hospital The Hindu spoke to on Wednesday said the authorities had “suddenly started distributing clothes.” The inmates were without clothes for last several months.
“Those who can wash their clothes get some detergent, those who are unable to wash their clothes are kept naked,” said the female patient, who has been at the facility for three years.
Lack of proper food
She said there are rumours that some minister will visit the hospital for which cleaning was on “after many months.” While she complained of lack of proper food and poor hygiene, the patient — who sounded extremely agitated on phone — also said the doctors at the hospital refused to even touch mentally-ill patients.
A volunteer of a non-government organisation, who wanted participation of some of the inmates for Independence Day cultural programme, said a barber had to be called for giving a hair cut to the inmates.
“Their hair and beard was full of lice. How can you put make up on that,” the volunteer said.
Anjali, a mental health rights organisation that has brought the issue to the fore, has written a complaint to the State government, urging it to file “an FIR against the public officers of Berhampore Mental Hospital and to prosecute them for the offences committed by them in accordance with law.”
One of the leading psychiatrists of the city, Jyotirmoy Samaddar, who visited the facility about five years ago said reports of poor hygiene of patients had come up in the past as well.
“In these facilities authorities come up with flimsy excuses like not giving slippers to inmates saying that would eat it up or even forcing them to eat on floors rather than providing table and chairs,” Dr. Sammadar said.
The plight of the mental health facilities in the state had come to fore in the past as well. Between 2010 and 2013, as many as 84 patients had died in state-run mental health facilities, the response to an RTI query had revealed. A section of activists had claimed that patients died of disease which could have been cured. The West Bengal Human Rights Commission, under Justice (Retd.) Asok Kumar Ganguly, had submitted a report to the Calcutta High Court suggesting certain recommendations.
“Instead of confining them [the inmates] in the locked-up wards all the 24 hours like caged animals, which is very depressing and badly affects their physical and mental health, they should be allowed to come out,” the report said, referring to the Berhampore Mental Hospital.
