Govt to take NGOs’ help to manage Asha Kiran home

Delhi government will now take help of non-government organisations (NGO) to manage Asha Kiran, the home for mentally challenged, reports Atul Mathur.

Delhi government will now take help of non-government organisations (NGO) to manage Asha Kiran, the home for mentally challenged.

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In news for a string of deaths at its over-crowded observation home in Rohini in

north Delhi, the government has already decided to

decongest it and shift the inmates to four new centres across the Capital.

Senior government officials said they are now looking at private participation to run the five observation homes — four new centres in Dwarka, Bindapur, Nehru Vihar and Narela — and the existing complex in Rohini.

“We have recently held a pre-bid meeting with 25 NGOs where we discussed what we expect from them. We hope many of these NGOs will participate in the tender process,” said Manoj Parida, principal secretary, department of social welfare.

According to officials, there are 742 mentally challenged men, women and children living at the existing Asha kiran complex that has a capacity of only 350 inmates.

Ninety per cent of the current patients suffer epileptic seizures and most are treatment-resistant. There is a team of only four doctors and nine nurses to attend to their medical needs.

According to officials, each of the new centres will house 150-200 inmates.

Fifty inmates lost their lives in 2009-2010, while 38 had died the previous year.