The Tamil Nadu Greater Chennai Corporation launched a drive to rescue and rehabilitate mentally ill homeless persons in the city along with the Health and Family Welfare department and the National Health Mission on Thursday. The joint team rescued 35 people and admitted them to the Emergency Care and Recovery Centre in Tondiarpet. However, eight went absconding from the centre and the corporation is in the process of identifying them.

Archana Sekar, a city-based activist, represented the Greater Chennai Corporation and said that “such drives are a violation of the concerned persons' constitutional rights and rights guaranteed by the Mental Health Care Act, 2017.”

Meanwhile, psychiatric evaluation and RT-PCR tests were conducted on the rest of the rescued persons. “As 22 persons of the lot required medical attention, they are admitted to the recovery centre while the remaining five were sent to shelter homes.  The corporation has around five shelters in the city, of which three are for men and two for women. If test results of the rescued people return positive, then as per protocols, the healthcare personnel will decide whether the person should be admitted to a hospital or kept in quarantine.

On Thursday, addressing reporters after inaugurating the scheme, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Subramanian said the drive was launched on the directives of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin. He said DMK had implemented the scheme in their last stint and 1,830 people had benefitted from it.

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