Page 22 - Annual Report

Transformative

Journeys

3 GOOD HEALTH
AND WELL-BEING
PROJECT ALIGNS
WITH SDG

The Block Coordinator of the DMHP also intervened,
counselling Priya and her family about the illness,
the importance of adherence to medication, and
also its side effects. The psychiatrist at the OPD after
evaluating her condition, prescribed medication,
and asked her family to bring her to the OPD every
month. He urged them to continue with the OPD
A day-patient at a PHC clinic diagnosed by a psychiatrist treatment, while encouraging Priya to engage in the
natural relaxation techniques of meditation and
Changing minds to yoga.

change a life This intervention helped to control Priya’s
symptoms. She reported that her auditory
hallucinations have reduced and engaging in
Priya (name changed) is 31 years old, living in a joint treatment was a major burden on the family. They household activities has become much easier.
family of 8 members in Dongri village of Ramtek had to stop the treatment, which worsened She now visits the OPD regularly and takes her
block, Nagpur. She has been suffering from her symptoms. prescribed medication. In her own words: “There’s
Schizophrenia since the age of 14, with symptoms Then, in April 2020, a community awareness been a lot of improvement in my illness ever since I
like hallucinations, delusions, irritability, social programme brought some hope for Priya and her started my treatment at the Ramtek OPD. And it
withdrawal, loss of appetite, and fearfulness. Her family. The community awareness programme was saves me the cost of travelling, too!”
family had taken her to a local ‘magic healer’ and conducted in Ramtek, Nagpur by the Tata Trusts’
followed various rituals to cure her. When that Mental Health team, which encouraged Priya’s Priya’s story underscores the crucial role played by
didn’t work, they took Priya to a psychiatrist in a family to enroll her in the District Mental Health the medical workers at the local level, who actively
private hospital. But, being a BPL household, her Programme (DMHP) OPD. engaged with the patient and her family, motivating
them to seek and continue with the treatment.

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