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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