Kochi: The state’s social welfare network has stepped in to care for the destitute patients abandoned at medical college and district hospitals even after completing treatment. Last year alone, around 800 such individuals were taken in by institutions under the State Orphanage Control Board. This year, over a hundred people have already been accommodated.

Just a few days ago, 21 patients from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital were relocated to the Gandhibhavan facility in Pathanapuram under the leadership of the Department of Social Justice. Thiruvananthapuram has the highest number of such abandoned individuals in the state.

Currently, 44 people who have completed treatment remain at hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram as their relatives have not come forward to take them home. In Kochi, 16 individuals are in a similar situation across various hospitals. In Alappuzha, 10 people, and in Kottayam, 17 people are still in medical colleges with no one to take them back.

According to available data, over 30,000 people are currently living across more than 500 orphanages in Kerala. The State Orphanage Control Board has instructed such institutions to admit as many people as possible. Those who have completed hospital treatment are being shifted primarily to old-age homes or palliative care centres.