The Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA) on Friday appealed to NGOs and the state government to come forward and help rehabilitate the mentally ill, roadside destitutes and non-criminal lunatics.
According to a report published by Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health in 2017, nearly 12 lakh people in the state, above the age of 18 years have one or more mental morbidity traits and need mental health care.
“There are thousands of destitute and non-criminal lunatics out there on the streets. I appeal to the NGOs and the government to cope with the requirements of food, clothing, medicine, shelter and difficulties involved in ferry the patient to his native place,” Irot Tanti, secretary, ATTSA, Doomdooma unit, told The Telegraph on Friday.
“Our work and our efforts really matter and create changes in the attitude of society towards mental illness. Our hearts go out to the mentally ill, their agony writ large on their mud-caked faces, their story written on their tangled hair, their plea reflected in their eyes, their misery in the nakedness of their being. Blazing heat, torrential rain and chilly winter see them through, year in and year out,” he added.
The report said most of the affected were in the productive age group of 40 to 49 years.
Respondents from the lower-income group were observed to have higher occurrence of mental disorders.
