Education and care taking of around 400 patients suffering from mental disorders is at stake because of a shortage of funds at the Fountain House (FH), Pakistan Today learnt on Friday.
The administration of the FH said after the death of former executive director Professor Dr Haroon Rasheed, they were facing serious financial problems in meeting the Rs 3.5 million monthly expenditures for the mentally ill. The FH, an institute for mental health, was established by late Rasheed Ch in 1971 with a mission to support the mentally ill people. After his death in 2000, his son Prof Dr Haroon Rasheed Ch took charge of the FH affairs as an honorary executive director but his death one year ago caused a financial crisis at the FH and the organisation is now totally placed at the mercy of philanthropists.
The FH Lahore, beside caretaking of mentally unstable people, also provides medical services to mentally ill students of engineering, law, and social sciences. The institute has treated around six thousands patients since its establishment. During the lifetime of Prof Dr Haroon Rasheed no funding issue occurred at the FH. His personality attracted socialists and philanthropists to support the FH, however after his death, donors withdrew leaving the FH helpless. The organisation is now planning to start an advertisement campaign to obtain funds.
The institute is presently housed in a state of the art building near the Civil Secretariat Lahore where high class facilities are being provided to the patients. Although philanthropists and the founders of the FH are doing their best to supervise the project, it needs financial help from the public. FH Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sayed Rehan Hussain said the organisation was in dire need of funds. He said the government provided Rs 0.5 Million to the FH every month and the rest of the expenditure was covered by donations; however recently the organisation was falling short of money.
He said, “We at FH never launched an advertisement campaign to get funds. Philanthropists, on their own, supported us. But now we are in crisis and need help of the wealthy to keep the FH running.” Anum Noorstan, a BS honors student of Mass Communication at the LCWU and a volunteer at the FH, said around 400 mentally ill people including 80 females were present at the FH and their needs included food, clothing and residence. She said the FH provided them with education and all the modern facilities. Patients were taught various subjects including art.
Regular classes were held and best faculty rendered their services to educate the special people. She said taking care of the mentally ill was the society’s responsibility hence generous donations must be made to the FH. Maham Bader, a volunteer and a student of the PU Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS), said the basic monthly expense of an average patient at the FH was around Rs 15,000. She said expenditures of treatment were beyond the basic amount. She requested wealthy peoples to understand the plight of patients at the FH and support them.
She said in the coming month of Ramadan, maximum alms must be donated to support the FH’s cause. She highlighted achievements of special people at the FH and said a number of recovered patients were now working in different organisations and it was only because of the efforts of the FH administration that they were contributing to the country. FH Human Resource Manager Ayesha Murtaza said, “There are separate male and female blocks for the patients where facilities including group therapy, counselling, art therapy and music therapy are provided.
Hundreds of people across the world rely on the FH and sent their patients here. The FH takes complete responsibility of its patients.” She said Dr Rasheed and Dr Haroon were a blessing for the patients. Although some families still supported the FH, it required a lot more funds and was seeking help. She said the FH staff and supporters had the mission to save the mentally disorder and make them working members of the society and to uphold the cause, the FH needed support from all sectors of the society.
Fountain House in dire straits
