Finally home: 6 mentally ill patients from TS missing for years reunited with families

Hyderabad: Four patients with mental illness who had gone missing years ago were reunited with their families by Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation, Manobandhu Foundation, and Society for Rural Development. Their families are from Hyderabad, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, and Mahbubnagar. The patients were lost years ago and were found in Surat, Gujarat, in 2021 and 2022. They were taken to Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation at Karjat in Maharashtra for treatment.

A total of six patients were brought to Telangana but the families of only four could be traced. One patient's husband is no more while the other patient's family has left Nizamabad. These patients were suffering from mental illnesses and due to poverty, most of them did not get the right treatment.

Take the case of Meenakshi (name changed) who was reunited with her family after six years in Nalgonda. She was found in Surat, Gujarat, in 2021. She was taken to Karjat for treatment. Her real name was known only after she recovered. She suffered from mental illness but the family was very poor and could not afford treatment. The family was very happy to have her back as she has fully recovered now, explained Srinivas of SRF.

Bhupathi Raju Ramakrishna Raju, the managing trustee of Manobandhu Foundation, said most of the patients who are treated are found on the streets and near railway stations of big and small cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Surat, and Ahmedabad. "The families are very poor and they often put them on the train. They get down at the stations and live nearby. We understand that treatment is a challenge and many are not even identified properly for their mental state. After recovery, SRF contacts us for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and we reunite them," he said.

In 30 years, a total of 9,000 patients have been reunited with their families. They were found on roads, shelter homes, and railway stations. They were treated and rehabilitated by Sharaddha Rehabilitation Foundation, a Mumbai-based organisation. They are treated at Karjat and once they recover, they are reunited with their families.

Dr. Bharat Vatwani, a Magsaysay awardee, founded the Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation in Mumbai. SRF works with local state foundations to reunite patients and also follows up on them.