Kerala: Mental hospital farming idea yields organic vegetables

KOZHIKODE: Gone are the days when premises of Government Mental Hospital, Kozhikode resembled an abandoned house with bushes and dark filthy corners where poisonous snakes made their home. Now, these abandoned spots have metamorphosed into organic vegetable farms, thanks to efforts of Assistant Collector K. Inbasekar, a post-graduate in agriculture. He inspired everyone to start farming on vacant land in the hospital campus.

The hospital now boasts of producing vegetables every week on their own land, and that too purely organic.  Entering the labyrinthine pathways and corridors, one would wonder how the entire ambience got changed with farming, says a bystander accompanying a patient. Here, farming is a collective effort with patients, staff and bystanders joining together. Started three months ago, the farm now has ladies finger, brinjal, pearl millet, beans, cabbage and whatnot.

Launched under the Compassionate Kozhikode project with the support of NSS volunteers from city colleges, the concept became a reality with the assistance of a team of likeminded officials from agricultural department. Assistant collector   Inbasekar told this newspaper that his role in this effort was just an introduction, an initial push. “Only the concept is mine. The credit for the entire success goes to the pure perspiration and whole hearted care of hospital staff, patients and all those at the hospital,” he said.

“When District Collector N. Prashanth who is heading the ‘Compassionate Kozhikode’ project told me to visit the hospital and suggest something for improving the life of patients, being a man from the agriculture background, farming was the first thing that came to my mind,” he recalled. Adding to the joy, doctors opined that the farming activities have brought in a newfound unity and vital energy into the campus, cutting across all layers.

Hospital superintendent Dr N. Rajendran told this newspaper that now the staff themselves are coming up with new farming ideas. “We have drip irrigation in place and the vegetable farm is taken care of mainly by our staff with the support of bystanders and some patients,” he added. “This is a group farming activity with which a hospital ambience got transformed. It will bring better results in treatment too,” he pointed out.