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Greater Jakarta: City to build clinic for the mentally ill

The Jakarta Social Agency is to build a psychosis clinic, which is said to be similar to a rehabilitation center, for residents with social and community problems (PMKS), especially for mentally ill homeless people

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Tue, July 28, 2015

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Greater Jakarta: City to build clinic for the mentally ill

T

he Jakarta Social Agency is to build a psychosis clinic, which is said to be similar to a rehabilitation center, for residents with social and community problems (PMKS), especially for mentally ill homeless people.

PMKS is the bureaucracy'€™s label for vagrants, the homeless, street children, street musicians, beggars and sex workers.

The agency'€™s head, Masrokhan, said that the mentally ill would receive therapy at the clinic with help from medical staff and psychiatrists until their behavior is returned to normal.

'€œIt will be like reinstalling computer programs,'€ Masrokhan said on Monday as quoted by beritajakarta.com, adding that the plan was part of a program to build a '€œJakarta free from PMKS'€.

Mentally ill homeless people, he said, had become one of the lingering social problems in the capital, which the agency had found hard to solve.

He added that the number of such patients in the city had reached 5,335, according to his agency'€™s records. At Bina Laras Shelter for the mentally ill, most patients suffered from severe mental illnesses, leaving them unable to recognize family and friends, Masrokhan said.

'€œSome have had their disorders for more than six years and it'€™s difficult to find their families,'€ Masrokhan said.

He said that some of the patients came from greater Jakarta areas like Bekasi, Bogor, Depok and Tangerang. Their families abandoned them on toll roads, he said.

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