Volume 11 Issues 12 December, 2021
Dr Menon was also responsible for starting postgraduate courses in psychiatry. She convinced the Government to establish psychiatric clinics in all the headquarters hospitals of every district in Tamil Nadu.
Dr Sarada Menon, M.D, FRCPsych ( UK) was the first woman psychiatrist in India and the founder of the NGO Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF). After obtaining her DPM from NIMHANS, Bangalore, in 1961, she became the Superintendent of the state-run Madras Mental Hospital (now known as Institute of Mental Health). This heralded an era of reforms with a focus on psychosocial rehabilitation. The hospital, which only served as a custodial place, was slowly turned into a mental health Centre through many far-reaching reforms initiated by her. She saw with great foresight, that interactions among social workers, the patient family and the patient was the key to the patient’s recovery. Therefore, she took the step of appointing for the first time professional social workers, started outpatient services, initiated an Industrial therapy/ vocational center where patients could be engaged.
In 1984, she founded SCARF along with Dr Rajkumar and Dr Thara with the objectives of rehabilitation, research and promoting awareness on mental health. Today, SCARF is a highly reputed centre nationally and internationally in many facets of work on mental health.
Right from her early years, she displayed a great penchant for teaching and even now, her students, many of whom have distinguished themselves in their own right, recall with great appreciation her clinical acumen and clarity and enthusiasm in teaching. She has inspired several bright young people to take up this discipline of psychiatry. She has naturally served as an examiner in almost all universities in the country and has also guided several PhD scholars.
“She was indeed a highly modest, humble, cheerful, and compassionate person. Almost everybody who had crossed her path was struck by her ability to connect not just with them but with their issues in life and their families. She was a universal mother.“
Her desire to serve the community propelled her to work for the Red Cross, and she has guided many other charitable organizations such as the TTK hospital, the family organization ASHA and Anbagam. Dr Menon’s contribution to psychiatric rehabilitation won her wide acclaim all over the world. She was the regional vice-president and also the Secretary-General of the World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation. She was the founder of the Indian Chapter of WAPR. Many awards came her way, the most notable being the Padma Bhushan in 1993, one of the highest civilian awards given by the government of India.
She was indeed a highly modest, humble, cheerful, and compassionate person. Almost everybody who had crossed her path was struck by her ability to connect not just with them but with their issues in life and their families. She was a universal mother. We were indeed fortunate to have her among our midst for almost a century and became better human beings ourselves by imbibing many of her sterling qualities. It is for us to take forward her vision of making the world a better place for those persons with mental disorders and their families.
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