Yerawada Mental Hospital offers beautician training course for recovered women patients

From threading eyebrows to trimming hair, a beautician training course is offered to women who have recovered at the government-run Regional Mental Hospital in Yerawada.

A beauty salon has also been set up in the women’s wing of the hospital and, initially, three women who have recovered from a mental illness are in training.

The Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted rehabilitation activities at the psychiatric hospital.

The hospital has hired Yashaswi Samajik Sanstha and Sarika More from the NGO to run the beauty salon course. “So far, three women are enrolled and enjoying the course,” Dr. Geeta Kulkarni, Deputy Superintendent of Regional Mental Hospital, told The Indian Express.

The Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted rehabilitation activities at the psychiatric hospital. Occupational therapy activities such as sewing and making paper bags and stationery, which are routinely encouraged to involve people with mental disabilities, had stalled.

“It has been a challenge, but we make concerted efforts to ensure that our patients practice social distancing and wear masks. There have been no fewer than ten cases of Covid in our hospital, but rehabilitation activities were affected, ”said Dr. Abhijeet Phadnis, superintendent of the largest psychiatric hospital in the state.

“As a pilot project, we are now involving women who have recovered to take the esthetician training course. Initially, three women whose families cannot be located but who have been here in the hospital for more than two years will undergo the training, ”said Dr. Kulkarni. There are 1,055 inmates in the hospital, of which 496 are women. However, there are several patients who have recovered but have no relatives to return to.

With the help of the Bapu Trust, another NGO, the hospital has recently rehabilitated seven women from the community. The ‘Homecoming Project’ provides for the creation of a path for recovered women living within the facilities of the regional psychiatric hospital.

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