Despite genuine efforts made under the District Mental Health Programme in Uttar Pradesh, the poor are slipping through the cracks. Launched in 2018, the main initiatives of the DMHP include the opening of mann kakshas across 75 districts of the state, the launch of Tele Manas helpline number and the 'dawa se dua tak' programme. A ground report from Lucknow, Barabanki, Unnao, Kanpur and Gonda reveals that the rural mental health crisis needs urgent attention as more people were found at religious places than at the state-operated mental health counselling centres.
00:00 – 00:22 | A New Dawn in Policy 01:10 – 02:26 | Between Hospitals and Shrines 02:36 – 03:01 | Voices of Faith 03:10 – 03:47 | Shadows of Stigma 03:49 – 04:18 | The Price of Survival 04:19 – 04:39 | Kanpur’s Missed Promise 04:42 – 05:25 | Forgotten Corners 05:40 – 06:21 | The Blind Spots 06:29 – 06:41 | Old Beliefs, New Battles 06:50 – 07:17 | Margins of Madness 07:22 – 07:57 | BADLAV’s Shelter 08:02 – 08:58 | Sakhi Centre’s Fight 09:02 – 09:20 | A Call for Active Change
00:00In 2018, the Mental Health Care Act brought new hope for millions of Indians.
00:05In Uttar Pradesh, initiatives under District Mental Health Program or DMHP promised to make mental health care accessible to all.
00:30On paper, the effort is genuine, from launching helplines and awareness drives to setting up man kakshas or special mental health rooms in district hospitals across 75 districts.
00:50Today, nearly 50 of them are operational.
00:52But on the ground, the picture remains uneven because mental health issues and illnesses still remain largely stigmatized.
01:01To understand how these initiatives are working, Outlook travel to five districts, including Lucknow, Unnau, Kanpur, Barabanki and Gonda.
01:09Take Lucknow for instance.
01:11The district hospital here is one of the busiest in the state, attending to more than 200 patients every day.
01:17There are also many doctors in the state, including Lucknow, Bahraic, Konda and Sitapur-Hardui.
01:25The district mental health program is operated in 75 districts.
01:29If they are not able to reach a clinical psychologist, they will not be able to reach a clinical psychologist in 50 to 55 districts.
01:40They will be able to reach a clinical psychologist in three days.
01:45The CSE and PSE, which the Muginji Kishra Adhikari gave us,
01:47We give them the CSE at each point of the CSE.
01:52We're a social worker who is a member of the CSE.
01:55We're doing the CSE at Malin Basti, with the Gram Pradhanu.
01:59We're doing the school program.
02:01We're even doing the Dua program.
02:03We're doing the Dua program.
02:05Alongside other initiatives like Telemanas and the campaign Dawa Se Dua Tak, attempt to shift mindsets, encouraging people to seek medical care instead of relying only on faith healings.
02:18Still, the pull of tradition remains strong. Shrines, ojhas and jhaad fukh continue to attract people looking for a cure.
02:26Just 25 kilometers from Lakhnau at Adarga, there were over 300 families who had moved in with their mentally ill relatives, believing that the Baba here could heal them.
02:36Our trust is now, so we have our trust. We do it because we do it. Many people are fine.
02:45Many people come from this, and they are fine.
02:49At Unaos District Hospital, the Man Kaksha stood empty.
02:53Patients were missing, doctors were underutilized. The reason? Stigma.
02:57Families here still prefer ojhas over hospitals.
03:00In fact, we met more people at a famous Dargah than at the hospital's mental health unit.
03:10Every disease is a disease, every disease is a disease.
03:15But we don't have to do it because we don't have to do it. We don't have to do it. We don't have to do it.
03:21We do it.
03:22We also did it.
03:23Our father was created by the Imam Bargah.
03:27And when we were there, we were doing it.
03:31We were doing it. We were doing it. We were doing it.
03:35We were doing it. It was a difference.
03:37We were doing it. We were doing it.
03:39We were doing it. We were doing it.
03:41We were doing it. We were doing it.
03:43We were doing it. We were doing it.
03:45We were doing it.
03:46The struggle is also economic.
03:48Medicines, hospitalizations, and prolonged treatment are often unaffordable,
03:52forcing families to give up mid-way.
03:54Many people are also worried about the treatment.
03:57They don't get anything.
03:58We are going to get treatment.
04:00They made it out and put it out.
04:02They don't like to do it.
04:04They don't get treatment outside.
04:06So, the patients who have been given the treatment in hospital,
04:10they have been able to take care of them.
04:13They've been able to take care of the hospital and earn it.
04:15They earn 400 rupees per day,
04:16and they pay 4 rupees per day.
04:18Take Kanpur for instance.
04:20Kanpur Nagar was one of the first districts in India
04:23DMHP began in 1998. Almost three decades later, the hospital has only 10 beds for psychiatric
04:31patients. For a program that started so early, Kanpur could have evolved into a model district,
04:37even helped reduce Lucknow's burden. Instead, the gap widened.
04:42In Barabanki 2, more families at a mazar than in the hospital ward.
04:46Many said they went to the doctors, but when medicines failed or the cost of treatment became
04:54a little too much, they turned to faith. But there is hope for a few, like Ankit Kumar Gupta,
05:00a mathematics graduate who trained as an electrician and was finally able to return home after treatment.
05:1780 kilometers away, in Gonda, the situation was even more dire.
05:21Here, the hospital staff had barely heard of a mankaksh. The so-called mental health unit was
05:26nothing more than one desk, a chair and a dusty board on the wall. Years of vacant posts and a lack
05:32of trained staff meant that even the ASHA workers here knew little about DMHP or mental health initiatives.
05:39Since the 16th year, you have worked in this village. So, you have got a child in this village
05:47who has a disability in this village? I do not get this.
05:56Despite the roadblocks, there are various other organizations that are helping people with mental
06:01illnesses. Based in Lucknow is Badlav that helps in rehabilitation. Most of the beneficiaries here
06:07suffer from depression. Cases of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and drug and alcohol
06:12addiction are also common.
06:13The mental illness is a disease. So, you should be able to see it from the disease.
06:20Because now, there are such issues that if people have mental illness,
06:25they have to give them new names. That's why, when people are poor,
06:32in the village, if they talk about little villages,
06:35when people are poor or young people are poor, they are poor.
06:38So, they are poor. The fact that people are poor and poor.
06:41The young people who are poor, the young people are poor.
06:45They have poor people who are poor.
06:49There is only one psychologist catering to dozens of beneficiaries
06:54battling various mental health illnesses.
06:56Beggar's mental health is still not the top of the town.
07:08For the elite class, there are celebrities' mental health news.
07:13Beggar's, as usual, have a mental health community.
07:17They don't know their real parents.
07:21They were adopted by a family.
07:26When they were 18 years old, they were disowned.
07:30They wanted to get rid of them from different ways.
07:35They wanted to kill them, kill them, abuse them.
07:40They wanted to get rid of them from their own guidance.
07:46They wanted to get rid of them from different places.
07:50They wanted to get rid of them from different places.
07:53They wanted to get rid of them from different places.
07:57After coming to our team, we got rid of them.
08:01The One Stop Centre Sakhi in Lucknow also offers temporary shelter, medical and legal aid, as well as police assistance and counselling.
08:09Kavitha came to us in 2022.
08:12When Kavitha came to the centre,
08:16she was in the hands of her condition.
08:18She was talking about the condition.
08:20She was seeing where she was and doing something else.
08:23She was not understanding how to help her.
08:26There was a lot of trauma in her situation.
08:28But in the way, the people were in the same situation.
08:29When a person was in the same situation,
08:30when one person was in the same situation,
08:32by understanding their things,
08:33it was a lot of pain.
08:36There was a great lobby prepared.
08:37There was an entire lobby.
08:38The people of the people of the family,
08:40the people of the family,
08:41the people of the family,
08:42the people of the family.
08:43Oh, no, you're wrong.
08:44They were right.
08:45It was a lot of trauma.
08:46We made them two years ago.
08:48In this condition,
08:49In this condition, we stood by Kavita, that they are enjoying themselves and are enjoying their children's lives.
08:58What was the first thing that happened to us? That was the fear of our society.
09:02But now, Grammied Ancal, such as many organizations like Sakhi Center, we are called Kisori Club.
09:09So, they are so aware of their rights, their child rights, what are their rights, what are their rights, what are their rights.
09:16We started changing, but now they are not taking care of their rights.
09:20So, we need to give them a care of their rights.
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