Traditional Psychiatric Treatment
In 1880, an Ayurvedic doctor named Girish Chandra Das established this mental hospital in his own residence to serve poor people. According to history, this might be the first psychiatric hospital in Bangladesh.According to the director and chief doctor Anutosh Kumar Das, in the beginning stage of the treatment for violent patient, kept in a small room where his both feet are locked with a heavy wooden log in a way which allows him to sit comfortably but not to stand. In local language, this log is called ‘Kunda’. In the following days, the patient is given herbal medicine and fooding. When his mental instability gradually improves the patient is freed from the Kunda but are locked with chains. In this stage, both of his feet and hands are chained so that they can perform their daily activities. After a few days, when the patient moderately stabilizes, the chain is removed and he is placed in a room where he is treated with herbal medicines prepared by their own custom method. Though the chain and log therapy may seem cruel but according to the doctor, this is absolutely necessary because most of the patients who come here are extremely violent by nature and if given a chance to stand, they can attack nearby people or even try to commit suicide. Mr. Anutosh Kumar Das claims that compare to modern treatment for psychiatric patients, their treatment procedure is better because to avoid any side effect, they give only homemade herbal medicines but modern treatments allows to give strong sedative which has various side effect and their success rate is also higher than modern treatment procedure. According to the director, though this institution is running at a complete loss, he is maintaining this facility to keep the family heritage. According to the record, after 1971 this hospital has treated about 3000 patients with a success record of above 70 percent. Only one patient died in 1952 in this hospital since its establishment
Category:Travel and Places
Subcategory:Asia
Subcategory Detail:Bangladesh
Keywords:Ayuvedic, Mental, Patient, Paychatric
© শোয়েব ফারুকী ফটোগ্রাফি Shoeb Faruquee Photography