Woman patient ends life at Erragadda Mental Hospital

Hyderabad: Twenty-six-year-old Himavathi committed suicide at the Erragadda Mental Hospital on Monday. She hung herself on the grill of the veranda outside the female ward. S.R. Nagar police station senior inspector Sudhir said, “Doctors said that Himavathi had very high suicidal tendencies since three months and was kept in an enclosed ward. Her suicide tendency was so high that she used to tie her clothes around her neck. Due to this, she was kept almost naked by the hospital staff who used to give her only minimum clothes. She had a habit of tearing clothes and tying it around her neck.”

The hospital staff on condition of anonymity said, “No object which can be used to commit suicide could be given to her. Even a spoon cannot be given as she would use it to pierce herself.” Hailing from Praka-sham district Hima-vathi was admitted to the Erragadda Mental Hospital after giving birth to a boy in 2013. Superintendent Dr Pramod Kumar said, “She was suffering from severe resistant depression. Treatments had no effect. All available medicines were used on her but the result was discouraging. She was given shock therapy too but the problem persisted and aggravated.”

In the last three years, she was admitted to Erragadda Mental Hospital frequently as per court orders. Her medical history showed that she suffered the first maniac attack after the birth of her son. The postpartum disorder was an episode of manic attack and depression followed after that. On  June 12 Sunday, the inmates were let out from their enclosures for compulsory baths.  A police official said, “Himavathi found a huge piece of cloth accidentally and hid it in her enclosure. When the staff was busy with morning duties on Monday she got out of the enclosure, came to the veranda and hanged herself.”