Worried by the phenomenon, Dr. Rajab Brisali, a psychiatrist at Hira general hospital, came up with a number of proposals to end the problem. He said the solution starts with dividing mentally ill patients around the Haram into two categories.

One category covers the schizophrenics rejected both by their families and society. According to Brisali, these patients might be integrated into society through the establishment of day care centers. Such centers could be built inside psychiatric or general hospitals and they should be well equipped with facilities to enable patients to practice their hobbies. They should also contain vocational training facilities to teach patients skills that would enable them to get employed. He said the patients should be paid monthly allowances and given moral support to help restore their self-confidence.

The second category covers patients who are staying with their families but who are likely to suffer an episode any time because of not taking medication on time. He said these patients could be treated by what is called community psychiatry.

Brisali said this kind of therapy is to visit patients at their homes and give them medicines there. He said medicines effective for a month are now available.

“The new medicines can be applied once a month. They are far better than the drugs that had to be taken daily,” he said.

According to Brisali, both types of therapy are not costly. He said an independent building is available in the Umrah area that could be equipped to receive these patients.

Brisali also suggested that social-care homes might be built by the Ministry of Social Affairs to accommodate the unemployed who usually hang around the Grand Mosque.