11 deaths in 2 months in Delhi mental health facility: DCW
A surprise Delhi Commission for Women inspection of Asha Kiran home for mentally challenged women on Saturday revealed 11 unreported deaths in two months. DCW officials also found patients roaming in the corridors in the nude while the CCTV footage was being monitored by male staffers. The patients were also being made to do the staff's personal chores, it found.
In a late night surprise inspection to the Asha Kiran home for mentally challenged women, the Delhi Commission for Women discovered patients in the nude roaming around in corridors.The team, comprising DCW chief Swati Maliwal, and other members and staff of the commission, conducted the visit on Saturday night and left the home on Sunday morning.CCTV cameras - monitored by male staff - installed in the home showed mentally challenged women roaming around nude. The inspection team also found patients in need of wheelchairs crawling on the floor to reach toilets.Also Read: Black Diwali in DCW over unpaid salaries, women commission might close down mobile helpline, rape crisis cellThe commission also discovered 11 unreported deaths in the last two months in Asha Kiran and has demanded complete medical records.Among other shocking revelations, the team found that mentally challenged children are being denied mattresses.The staff cited wetting of mattresses by children as the reason to force them to sleep on the floor in the cold weather.Not only were the washrooms in a deplorable condition with excreta, menstruation blood and urine spread all over with patients walking over them, even the rooms housing them were reeking of urine as the patients relieved themselves there, DCW officials told Mail Today"In addition to overcrowding, we saw mentally challenged residents sweeping the house, cleaning clothes and tending to the staff's need like massaging legs. Only one staff has been made available for 153 residents in one of the dormitories," a DCW spokesperson said.The spokesperson also said that the commission found no clinical psychologist at the home. "Barring one psychiatrist who visits the home for a few hours once a week, several positions for doctors have been lying vacant at the home," the official said.Also Read: DCW notice to Delhi Police over CCTV camera installations, asks why Supreme Court order not implementedMaliwal told Mail Today that what the commission encountered in the wee hours on Saturday and Sunday is nothing short of horrifying.