Re: Bare Facts about Calcutta,Government Pavlov Hospital

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Anjali and Sruti Disability Rights Centre!

On 8 March 2008, female patients of the Pavlov Mental Hospital, a Government

hospital in Kolkata were stripped of their clothes and left naked in the

hospital ward, on the pretext that their clothing needed to be sent to the

laundry. As human rights activists, we are shocked by this extreme violation of

the patients' dignity within the premise of a government hospital. We seek

answers from the state to the following questions:

Do patients in government mental hospitals have only one set of clothing?

Is stripping of patients a regular occurrence? How often are clothes required to

go to the laundry?

Why is there a dearth of clothing for patients within a government hospital?

Is there any space at all for considerations of a patient's rights and dignity

in a government mental hospital?

Does the hospital administration and medical team not consider their patients as

human beings with inviolable human rights?

We have placed these questions before the state government and state

administration. We now seek your support in taking these issues to the public

domain.

On Saturday, 15 March 2008, at 5 p.m. we are organizing a silent vigil outside

the main gate of the Academy of Fine Arts, where we will run a signature

campaign.

Your support will be invaluable for us. As agencies addressing human rights, we

would be grateful if you come with posters. That persons with mental health

problems are entitled to all human rights, is an issue that cuts across all

sectors and organizations. Therefore, this silent vigil will be a collective

effort. We request that no organizational banners be displayed at the site of

the vigil. The success of this campaign will manifest only when we talk in a

common voice.

We look forward to your participation. For more information, please call us at

the following numbers:

Shampa Sengupta – 9433174978 or Sumita - 9831186665

In Solidarity

The Anjali Team and The Sruti Team

Shampa Sengupta

e-mail: <shampag@...>