Caring for the mental wellbeing

For the past 18 years, RC ­Shankerpura, RID 3182, has been regularly organising psychiatric medical camps every month at Shankarapura, a tiny hamlet in Udupi, Karnataka. “When we started the camp in 2004, we treated 20 patients. Today we get about 600 patients every month, some of them coming from the surrounding regions too,” says Edward Mendonca, club chairman, psychiatry camps. Medicines worth ₹30,000 are distributed every month and psychiatrists Dr P V Bhandary from Udupi and Dr Srinivasa Bhat from Mangaluru, along with a team of a counsellor, three pharmacists and a nurse, take care of patients at the camps.

“It is an ongoing project with no fund crunch. Our well-wishers and some Rotarians have deposited considerable amount in fixed deposits in their account and the interest is diverted directly to our Rotary Trust account. We use these funds to run the camps,” says Mendonca.