40 picked up monthly

JAKARTA (JP): The city's social agency picks up around 40 deranged people every month and places them in city-owned homes which are already too full.

Emon S. Sumantri, the head of the agency, said Friday night that the city needs its own center for mentally disturbed people.

So far the men and women, often found naked on the streets, are sent to the agency's centers for the elderly and homeless.

The three centers are in Cipayung, East Jakarta, and in Jelambar and Cengkareng, West Jakarta.

"Our latest figures show 780 mentally disturbed people have been placed in these homes, which have a total capacity of only 500," Emon said.

The agency has tried transferring them to the state-owned mental health hospital in Grogol, West Jakarta, but hospital management staff always claim there are no vacancies.

"The hospital is full, and they mainly receive patients who still have families responsible for them," Emon said.

The lack of shelters for the mentally disturbed found on the streets will get worse in the future, he said, as no family members ever claim them or even report them missing.

"The city home for the mentally disturbed is already in its initial planning stage," he said while touring the city with Governor Surjadi Soedirdja in conjunction with the city's anniversary.

Emon said the daily meal allowances for each inhabitant in the city's homes will be increased in the near future from Rp 1,500 (64 U.S. cents) to Rp 2,000. (yns/anr)