Centre plans halfway homes for those cured of mental illness

NEW DELHI: India is all set to have its first halfway home and rehabilitation centre for patients who have been cured of mental illnesses. The Modi government has framed a first-of-itskind policy to help cured patients who are still languishing in asylums because of lack of family support and social stigma attached to mental illness.

A beginning will be made with the setting up of National Institute for Mental Health Rehabilitation in Bhopal. This institute will provide support to patients who have been cured and offer vocational training to them to start a fresh life outside the institution. The institute will have counselling sessions for families of the cured individuals to ensure that the transition phase is smooth. The department of empowerment of persons with disabilities (DEPwD) will move a Cabinet note in February to initiate the setting up of the institute. According to sources, the construction time will be 18 months and the institute is likely to become operational by the end of 2019.

The Centre is exploring a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Canadian mental health and rehabilitation institute to exchange expertise in the area. “The institute would be an umbrella institute, which would provide counselling, vocational training, a couch approach for counselling sessions, research and training modules for psychologists working in the field. It would be an international centre,” a source told ET.


The institute will be a lighthouse centre, which will be replicated in different regions of India. The plan is to have one each in north, south, east and west. Sources said the land for institute has been identified and the building plan has been finalised. The move comes after a PIL filed before SC by advocate Gaurav Bansal found nearly 300 persons are still languishing in mental hospitals in UP even after being cured.