Health is a Sound Mind in a Sound Body
At PRASAD, we take a holistic approach to the communities we serve. We understand that mental and physical health are equally important components of overall health. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being and is vital at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
In 2015-2016, The Indian National Mental Health Survey estimated that about 150 million Indians need treatment for mental disorders. The stressors of the lengthy COVID lockdown, unemployment, migration for work, and addictions have taken a toll on the mental health of the people in the Tansa valley.
There is no facility providing mental health treatment within a 15-mile radius in the region other than PRASAD Chikitsa’s Medical Center. Most in this rural community cannot afford visits to specialists, let alone the cost of medication.
Since 2005, PRASAD Chikitsa’s Psychiatry Department has treated patients for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, and other mental health issues. Currently, two hundred patients are regularly receiving treatment for these disorders
Prajakta Pandit Hadal visits PRASAD Chikitsa’s Psychiatry Department with her mother and child.
Prajakta Pandit Hadal, now 16 years old, first came to PRASAD Chikitsa with her parents in 2012 with a history of regular monthly convulsions. She also needed psychological support.
Evaluated and diagnosed with epilepsy, she started on the required medications, followed up every month, and responded well to treatment.
Now married with a healthy infant daughter, Prajakta currently has no significant symptoms. She shared her gratitude at a follow-up visit with her psychiatrist: “With the convulsion episodes, my family and I never thought of a normal life, but with treatment at PRASAD, my life has changed. I am a wife and a mother, too, of this beautiful baby”
To offer hope and life-changing mental health support to other rural villagers like Prajakta, we need your help. A donation of $60 will provide treatment and medication for one patient for a year. Please help us reach our goal of raising $12,000 to provide treatment to 200 low-income patients.
Kind regards,
Dr. M. Cecilia Escarra
Executive Director
