October 10 is observed as World Mental Health Day with rallies and street plays on psychiatric ailments and the mentally challenged organised and attempts made to dispel myths associated with such diseases. Attempts are also made to convey to the masses that psychiatry today is not confined to those who “hear voices”. It deals with a whole range of disorders — behavioural, adjustment, organic and the like. It also is no longer restricted to the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders but also seeks to prevent them and promote mental health.

Fortunately today, thanks to the growing consciousness of society due to the spread and advancement of education and increase in general awareness of the people generated by the media and the government, much of the stigma and discrimination attached to mental diseases have disappeared. People have accepted mental disease as another form of ailment, which can be diagnosed, treated and cured — thereby helping these people to lead normal, healthy lives.

The Tezpur Mental Hospital was laughed at as Pogola Phatak (jail for the insane) and touted as a “tourist attraction” at the time when consultation medication for mental health and psychiatric counselling were almost non-existent. Anyone who deviated from “normal” behaviour was thought to be possessed by the devil and treated by the local bez or sorcerer who specialised in witchcraft. Such persons often met with tragic ends — they either wandered about on the streets, fell victim to the evils of society, led subhuman lives or even succumbed to injuries meted out to them by their so-called saviours.

But now, with a new nomenclature — Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health — the Tezpur Mental Hospital is not looked down upon anymore. The general ideas of poor living conditions, limited therapeutic facilities, abuses and deprivation of patients in mental hospitals do not apply to the Tezpur institute. This was after it was taken up by the North Eastern Council (NEC) in pursuance of a government order through a bilateral agreement signed by representatives of the NEC and the Assam government in 1999.

Now efforts are also on to upgrade the hospital into a teaching institute by engaging facilities of other allied subjects besides psychiatric social work, psychiatric nursing and anaesthesiology, all manned by qualified professionals.

The LGB Regional Institute of Mental Health is a 300-bedded hospital with daily outpatient service, emergency service and closed separate wards for both male and female patients. Patients from all over the Northeast come for treatment of mental diseases and also for de-addiction for substance abuse.

Indoor patients are either treated free of cost as voluntary boarders for a minimum deposit or as paying patients. Patients are admitted when required. Contact is maintained with their families and legal guardians through mail or telephone and if required they are readmitted in their presence so as to ensure that these patients are not just dumped in the hospital to get rid of them.

It is heartening to see patients from different backgrounds living in harmony although it is not uncommon to witness quarrels between patients who have violent spells in the course of the disease. But due to long experience of working with the mentally deranged, nurses and doctors develop the skill and instinct to keep such incidences in check.

The patients start their day with an early breakfast. Those who are in the recuperating stage involve themselves in different activities of the ward and generally socialise among themselves. Some actively participate in gardening, cleaning of the hospital premises, escorting patients to and from the community dining hall, keeping vigil on their sick co-patients, cleaning dressing and feeding their companions and thus assuming a motherly role, as in a family.

There are patients who have disease-free periods but due to poor compliance or otherwise, they have relapses. They are neglected or abandoned by their families and ostracised by society. For them, the institute is their only home, which shelters them, feeds them and offers them security. Many of these chronic patients, some of them mentally challenged, have lost count of their years in the hospital. A few of them are honest voluntary and sincere workers of the hospital. In the past also there have been incidents when children of some of the patients grew up, received education and settled down in the hospital environs.

Certain functions of the hospital are celebrated as community festivals. Republic Day is celebrated as Annual Sports Day where patients and employees all join in the various events. After the sports events, all enjoy the community feast. Independence Day also has a special significance.

The flag hoisting is followed by a cultural function where the patients and staff of the institute — from the helpers to the doctors — participate with different cultural items. A few days prior to the event everyone is busy. Right after finishing their lunch at 11 am, the patients make a beeline for the recreation club of the institute for their rehearsals. Some practise singing, some recitation, some dancing while the rest simply find pleasure in watching others.

On the big day, the excitement is palpable. Everyone assembles in the club which also doubles up as an auditorium. They sit and enjoy the programme, which usually is a big success not only because it is enjoyable but also because it instils a sense of confidence, a sense of purpose and fulfilment.

The hospital has also seen a radical change in the past decade. Each patient is given four sets of clothing and their bed linen frequently changed. They get nutritious, balanced diet, spacious and convenient community dining halls, 24-hour running water, modern and clean toilets, lavatories and bathrooms.

Basic medical aids and diagnostic facilities like modern pathology laboratory x-ray, ECG and a minor operating room are also provided.

The authorities are now also planning to set up departments of neurochemistry and neurology. Academic courses have already begun for diploma of psychiatric nursing, a one-year course for qualified nurses with general nursing certificate and nursing graduates (BSc nursing).

Undergraduate students from Assam Ayurvedic College, post-graduate students from various universities and colleges and students from various nursing schools regularly undergo training at the institute. A process is also on to initiate various university-recognised courses with more full-time faculties in various subjects.

Judging by the sincere and concerted efforts of all those working here, the day is not far when this institute in a nondescript part of the north bank of Assam will be a frontrunner in mental health and neurology — at par with any state-of-the-art neuro-psychiatry institute in the country.

lThe author is a consultant anaesthesiologist at the LGB Regional Institute of Mental Health