Thane Mental Hospital staff helps 2 inmates reunite with families

Yesterday Thane Mental Hospital was witness to the heartwarming reunion of two women with their families after years thanks to tireless efforts put in by social workers and doctors there Both the women were inmates at the hospital barely able to remember their own names let alone the details of their family members but this did not deter the hospital workersCase 1The first case is a particularly distressing one of a woman who went through intense mental trauma after she was abandoned by her husband and then gangraped two years agoThe 40yearold woman will finally go home to Uttar Pradesh with her brother after spending two years at the hospital as social workers attempted to trace her family PicsSameer MarkandeThe 40yearold woman hails from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh where she lived with her husband But towards the end of 2013 she suspected that her husband had a second wife hidden in Mumbai so she travelled here to check on him When she learnt that he had indeed married another woman he abandoned her Heartbroken and alone in a strange city the woman went through a second trauma when she was gangraped The Dharavi police registered the case and she was admitted in the Thane Mental hospital on January 2 2014 for treatment for the resulting psychosisldquoTwo years ago the victim came to know that her husband had married a Bengali woman in Mumbai so she came to Mumbai where she was gangraped This led to mental trauma and she was admitted hererdquo said Surekha Wathore psychiatrist and social worker at Thane mental hospitalBack in UP the survivorrsquos five kids and her brother had no idea where she was Social workers in the hospital didnrsquot have much luck while trying to figure out her identity either Language problems and her condition got in the way ldquoAfter approaching her several times we finally gained her trust and slowly started getting a few details like the fact that she hails from Rampur We then contacted the Rampur police and enquired about missing cases Two months ago we finally traced her family and even spoke to her brotherrdquo Wathore addedHowever her brother couldnrsquot make it to Mumbai because of financial constraints which is when other NGOs stepped in to help such as the Environmental Medical Association which provided funds so that the brother could come to the city and be reunited with his sisterldquoWe tried to search for my sister many times but couldnrsquot find her I had visited Mumbai earlier but had to return when I couldnrsquot find any leads We filed a missing complaint with the local police station but lost all hope until the hospital staff traced us I am happy that we can finally take her home after two yearsrdquo said the brotherCase 2The second woman spent a much longer period in the hospital mdash nearly eight years Shobha Giri 43 was admitted on July 1 2008 by the Kashimira police station and was found to be suffering from a manic disorderAfter eight years of searching for Shobha Giri her husband Vasant right was finally reunited with her yesterdayldquoThe police found her roaming around in their jurisdiction and sent her here We tried counselling her several times but she was not even aware of her own name and kept saying different names like Meena Seema and others But we kept talking to her and slowly began to learn more about herrdquo Wathore recalledIt was finally in August that the hospital made a breakthrough when Shobha finally revealed to one of the social workers that she was from Gujarat where her husband and sister resideldquoWe took her details and started looking it up online We forwarded the information to the Kashimira police station and asked them to trace her family in Udhna in Surat The cops found her husband who had reported her missing in 2008rdquo Wathore addedShobharsquos husband Vasant said ldquoWe never thought she would go all the way to Mumbai We kept searching for her in local areas in Surat For months I would ride my bicycle through every bylane looking for her We are grateful to the hospital staff for reuniting usrdquoIt was later learnt that Shobha had taken a train to Mumbai unbeknownst to her family When her husband was informed that she was in Mumbai he wanted to take her home immediately but once again financial restraints stopped him he didnrsquot have the money to pay Shobharsquos treatment fees Here too the Environmental Medical Association came to their aid and shared the cost with the family after which husband and wife came together after nearly eight years on Monday Hospital superintendent Dr Rajendra Shirsat said ldquoIt took real effort from our social workers who traced the families and continuously followed up Our aim is to reunite as many such victims as we canrdquo