Global Philanthropic Report 2019 - SECT, VKF & Go2C

Background
According to a report submitted by NIMHANS to Govt. of India, mental illness afflicts 13.7% of
the population which translates to a whopping 16.7 Crore Indians. About 1.9% of the population
(2.3 crore) is afflicted with severe mental disorders, which if left untreated could well result in
the patient walking out because of the mental illness and becoming a homeless wandering
destitute.
While India has a ratio of 3 psychiatrists for every million population, WHO estimates of 2011
indicate that 81% of people with severe mental disorders receive no treatment in India. There
are just 43 government-funded mental health hospitals with 17,800 beds. This, coupled with just
10,000 beds available in psychiatry wards of government hospitals, brings us to an average of
one bed per 44,000 people in India. The incidence of mental illness in the homeless is over 50%.
With the government spending 0.06% of its budget on mental health, mental illness in India has
been considerably under-invested in, and the available services fall severely short of demand.
About Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation
Shraddha is a humane experiment to address the problems faced by mentally ill roadside
destitute all over the country. The work involves picking up mentally ill destitutes from the
streets, treating them, and reuniting them with their families in different parts of the world.
Picking up inmates involves observation on whether the inmate is a drunkard, ragpicker, or a
beggar. The potential inmate has then to go through medical tests after reaching Shraddha’s
Center. After medical treatment, psychiatric treatment, and a few counseling sessions, the social
workers have to take recovered inmates to far-off places in order to reunite them with their
families. While travelling, Shraddha staff faces many problems due to lack of proper
accommodation, transport, and climatic conditions.
Shraddha is the only registered NGO in India, run in a professional manner by qualified
psychiatrists, dealing with the cause of the mentally ill roadside destitutes. They help these
wandering destitute get off the roads, bring them to their Rehabilitation Center in Karjat, treat
them with appropriate psychiatric medication, and after recovery (which may take a few
months), finally reunite them with their families all over India.
Due to the huge quantum of mentally ill destitutes roaming the streets of Mumbai itself, i.e.
approximately a minimum of 500 plus in actual numbers on any given day, Shraddha has
expanded to focus on rescuing these destitutes primarily from the Mumbai – New Mumbai –
Kalyan – Karjat belt, further moving on to nearby zones in Maharashtra such as Pune and
Sholapur and, last but not least, from other states. Shraddha intiaties reunions across the whole
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