Sponsor medicines for a mentally challenged patient

Impact

Gadadhar is from a poor family in Kurdha, Odisha. **He always liked learning and reading and enjoyed school. But one unfortunate period changed the course of his life.** When he was in class 10, he fell ill before an exam and could not prepare or answer it well. This greatly upset him as he had always been a good student. Around the same time, his sister went through a bitter divorce and returned home heart broken with her three kids. His family’s plight got even worse when their sheep’s sty caught fire and all their sheep died, leaving them with no source of income. All these incidents piled together made Gadadhar feel helpless and drove him into a frenzy. **He started becoming violent with his family and showed signs of a severe mental illness. His family could not afford medical care and did not know how to help him.** They were grateful when Vikash's staff discovered him and took him to a psychiatrist. Vikash took care of his medical expenses and he began his path to recovery. **His violent outbursts have reduced since. He can now also perform most of his routine daily activities with no difficulties.** The doctors have assured his family that with regular medication, he will manage to be independent and be able to work as well.You can donate to get someone like Gadadhar the help they need when life throws them down. Your donation will get them good treatment, care and another shot at life. You can give with confidence because every program on our platform is [GIVEASSURED](https://www.giveindia.org/giveassured).

About The Program

Under this program, Vikash works to provide community-based support to persons with mental illness in the Puri and Khordha districts of Odisha. The program provides medicines for the psychiatric treatment of mentally ill patients who fall below the poverty line and hence, cannot afford to buy the medicines. Mental illness is highly misunderstood and carries a lot of stigmas. The patients are often kept chained and isolated and this worsens their conditions. The field staff of Vikash counsel the families to avail psychiatric treatment and provide them with free medicines. The track the patients to keep abreast of their recovery. With regular treatment, they begin to enhance their ability to control their condition, and work independently and even earn a living. Donate to this program and give a patient like Gadhadar the chance to live with dignity.

About The NGO

Vikash is a voluntary organisation based out of Bhubaneshwar and founded in the year 1986. It believes in the human initiative, strength, and innovativeness rather than charity.The organization is working in 14 underdeveloped districts of Odisha, covering over one million individuals. Vikash has been working in the Puri and Khordha districts of Odisha with poor mentally challenged children affected by epilepsy. Being physically weak, they are mostly bed-ridden and suffer from regular bouts of epilepsy. It aims to maximise the potential of the disabled by enhancing their physical strength with the help of medicines. Multi-Rehab workers in the project areas, visit homes of the severely disabled to provide therapy, training, and counseling to the families. These visits teach the parents about how to care for their disabled child. The community-based rehabilitation programme has limited scope to empower the disabled children who have higher levels of disabilities. These children need institutionalized care for a couple of weeks/months. This led to the birth of Mukti Kiran- a residential facility. It hires specialists from the city for intervention.Poor families could not meet the cost of such services. Hence it relies on donation to serve to all those in need.