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Farrokh Jijina
The Masina Wellness Center (MWC), the refurbished mental health facility will focus more on counselling and less on medication, noted chief executive officer of Masina Hospital Dr Vispi Jokhi in conversation with Parsiana on February 20, 2020. Inaugurated on February 15, the two-and-a-half floors dedicated to the Center has 69 beds within air conditioned wards and semi-private and private rooms, with round-the-clock security. The bed-strength has not been increased. "We do not want to do that... that takes away from personalized attention.” The Center was opened in the presence of art historian Dr Pheroza Godrej, Jaithirth Rao, former chief executive officer of information technology services company MphasiS, Breach Candy Hospital’s psychiatrist Dr Vihang Vahia and Hospital managing trustee Homi Katgara.
Top, from l: Dr Pheroza Godrej, Jaithirth Rao, Homi Katgara, Dr Vispi Jokhi; above: Dr Vihang Vahia
"The cheerful surroundings will heal the patients,” Godrej stated, observing that soothing color schemes have been used for the walls during the refurbishment. Psychosocial rehabilitation services for both inpatients and outpatients have been strengthened. The Center comprises doctors, therapists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and occupational therapists, "whose expertise helps provide solutions for evaluation, diagnosis and treatment,” noted a write-up from the Hospital. "From general well-being to psychological testing, child and adolescent psychological health and addiction rehabilitation, Masina’s mental health department offers services with personalized treatments,” the report stated.
The Hospital considers safety and privacy of their patients a "top priority... We wanted to (create) a space for safe socialization through the use of therapies that use color, art, animals, dance movements, psychodrama and yoga in the healing process,” the Hospital’s psychiatrist Dr Natasha Kate stated.
The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 lays great stress on patients’ rights, explained Jokhi. "We have undertaken this upgrade to be more compliant with the Act... Protocols to be followed in treating patients are more client-friendly,” he stated. The Indian Journal of Psychiatry noted in a January 2019 article that the number of psychiatrists in India is about 9,000. About 700 psychiatrists graduate every year. "Going by this figure, India has 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, while the desirable number is anything above three psychiatrists per 100,000.” MWC will "fill the void” partially, stated Jokhi.
The 270-bedded, 1902-built Hospital constantly upgrades its healthcare offerings, the last being to their Parsi ward, kitchen and dining facilities (see "Masina’s Parsi Ward,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, January 21-February 6, 2020).