|
||
|
|
|
|
Astrology
Chat
Cityscape
Classifieds
Entertainment
Health
Matrimonial |
|
| |||||||
| |||||||
  |
The memento read: 'Dr Sarada Menon is respected nationwide for her tireless work in developing treatment and rehabilitation facilities for the mentally ill and the incapacitated. She personifies total dedication to professional excellence and continuing commitment to advancement of psychiatry and an untiring zeal to serve the community through her chosen profession.' As I was let into the above 70-year-old smiling presence, I knew something more was in wait. Yes, I was right; I was talking to Padmabhushan Sarada Menon whose pioneering work went a long way in changing society's attitude to the mentally ill and in bringing them back to the mainstream. Sarada Menon, whose roots can be traced to Sreekrishnapuram, was born in Mangalore and came to Chennai at the age of seven as her father K S Menon, a judge, was transferred to Chengalpattu. "Then onwards I have been here in Madras - schooling, college, Madras Medical College, MD…"
Sarada Menon was moved by the plight of the mentally ill young women who were admitted at the hospital: "I found that many young women were rejected and forgotten by their families once they were admitted to the Mental Hospital. I found it very difficult to discharge them. Nobody would pick them up from the hospital. I wanted to change that. So I requested two organisations - Seva Sadhan and YWCA - to look after the women after they were discharged. They took care of these women and gave them some work. Once they were in an industrial unit and not in a mental hospital, their families were ready to pick them up," she says. "Somebody has to change somewhere. First we doctors should change our attitude towards the patients and then others. Families can do a lot to help a mentally ill person. So we formed an association of the families of such people. It is called 'Asha'." "Families can influence the government, the industry and the public to remove the stigma and help the patients get job and prestige," she says. Perhaps the greatest contribution of Dr Sarada Menon was her efforts to bring privileges to the mentally ill persons. She says, "Previously, the government did not consider mentally ill people for privileges that the physically disabled got. In 1995, we met the then Tamil Nadu chief minister and presented a memorandum and the government extended the privileges to the mentally ill too. The next year, the Central government did the same." Sarada Menon, She retired in 1978 and her husband Sreekumara Menon, who was an IPS officer, died three years ago. Sarada Menon, who has studied in detail the psychiatric problems of the aged, is not bored even in her '70s as she is still active. " In the morning, I go to a nursing home, then I go to some associations I am interested in. Then I am here in my clinic from 4-9 in the evening and after that I spend some time reading." The greatness of Sarada Menon is in her ability to give personal attention to each person, whether mentally ill, a relative, a friend, or a journalist, who interviews her. I felt a highly accomplished person reach out to me like a friend. Salil Jose Readers' response/inputs can be e-mailed to salil@chennaionline.com.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||
As I sat amidst patients and their relatives at her clinic at Kilpauk, I did not have any idea about the contributions and greatness of Dr Sarada Menon, who was the former superintendent of the Mental Hospital (now Institute of Mental Health), Chennai. This ignorance naturally attracted me to a memento on the wall, presented to her by the Rotary Club, Anna Nagar, as part of the 'For the Sake of Honour' award.
She joined the Tamil Nadu Medical Service in 1951 and held posts like assistant surgeon and civil surgeon. In her 17-year-long career as superintendent, she started an industrial therapy unit at the Mental Hospital to help the patients develop simple skills which would make them "productive and useful human beings".
who has published a number of papers on schizophrenia, hysteria, adolescent physical problems and delusion, is associated with many organisations like Red Cross Society, Mother Theresa University and others.
