HYDERABAD, Nov 24: An institute, which is meant for rehabilitating the mentally retarded and the insane, has not enough resources even to feed its patients not to mention meeting their other needs, learnt two Sindh High Court judges who paid a visit to the government-run Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Institute of Psychiatry on Thursday evening.

A group of philanthropists fund lunch for the patients admitted to the institute leaving it to grapple with the problem to arrange for dinner and breakfast almost on a daily basis, Justice Ameer Hani Muslim and Justice Muneeb Ahmed Khan who were accompanied by Sindh Additional Advocate General (AAG) Masood A. Noorani were told.

They went around different wards and also met with some of the insane prisoners who were sent there from different jails.

To the management’s complaint that water connection to the institute had been disconnected the judges called for a thorough inspection of the institute by DCO, irrigation officials and Pakistan Works Department (PWD) to solve at least some of the problems and make life somewhat easier for the inmates.

The judges noted that some prisoners had been admitted to the institute without making proper entries and there was no record on their punishment, cases, date of arrival etc.

The management told the judges that they mostly kept their patients on sedatives and that the civil judges and magistrates sent people to the institute without going through proper procedure. The patients were admitted on showing just an application filed by any member of the family, the management complained.