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“Sound mind in a sound body” is often quoted phrase among sound people. But in today’s world, it is not only sound body but lot of other things are there which influence state of mind. Therefore mind is not only a biological entity but also a societal product. It is aptly said that man is social and society is mental.
Stress, tension, depression, anxiety, mood disorders are
commonly seen among individuals today. India has a huge burden of mental illness
mainly among women, homeless, poor and those living in urban areas. As a
consequence, India has considered mental illness as a disability which later
also recognized by World Health Organization. To address worrisome number of
mental patients, India has taken a leap forward by formulating “The Mental
health Care Bill, 2013” which is a right based approach to mental health care
with citizens getting the right to access mental health care. It also asserts
that such mental health care service should be affordable, of good quality and
available without discrimination.
Being signatory of United Nations Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is also an obligation for India to
introduce legislations that protects the rights of disabled. Simultaneously, on
international level, World Health Assembly has adopted ‘Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013- 2020’ which is a
commitment by all 194 member states to take specified action to improve mental
health and to contribute to the attainment of a set of agreed global targets.
The drafted Bill has widened the
definition of mental illness as “a disorder of mood, thought, perception, orientation and memory which
causes significant distress to a person or impairs a person’s behaviour,
judgement and ability to meet the demands of daily life and includes mental
conditions associated with the use of alcohol and drugs but does not include
mental retardation”
As
per the Bill, “Competence” or Competent to make a decision” means the person
has ability to:
a) understand the
information relevant to the decision and/or;
b) retain the
information
c) use or weigh that information as part of the process of
making the decision and;
d) communicate his or her decision by any means (by talking,
using sign language or any other
means).
Every person
has a right to make an 'Advance
Directive' in writing, specifying any or all of the following:
a) the way the person wishes to be cared for and treated for
a mental illness and/or;
b) the way the person wishes not to be so cared for and
treated for a mental illness and/or;
c) the individual or individuals, in order of precedence, the
person wants appointed as their
nominated
representative; in the event of his or her having a mental illness in the future.
The Bill
exclusively mentions Rights of Persons with Mental illness which are as
follows:
1. Right to Access Mental Health Care
2. Right to Community Living
3. Right to Protection from Cruel, Inhuman and
Degrading Treatment
4. Right to Equality and Non-discrimination
5. Right to Information
6. Right to Confidentiality
7. Access to Medical Records
8. Right to Personal Contacts & Communication
9. Right to Legal Aid
10. Right to make Complaints about Deficiencies in
Provision of Services
Chapter III of the draft Bill mentions about the Duties
of government which are in consonance with the four key objectives of
Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013- 2020 like, promotion of mental
health and preventive programs; creating awareness among public, reducing
stigma associated with mental disability and strengthening community based
rehabilitation; human resource training; strengthening information systems etc.
The Bill provides for
constitution of ‘Mental Health Review Commission’. The present day problems of
mental health care facilities like lack of human resource, lack of
infrastructure, poor hygienic conditions, over- crowding and very less number
of mental health facility centres compared to the demand are also taken into
consideration and the Bill tries to address these issues.
References: 1. Draft –
Mental Health Care Act
2. ‘Passion of mind’ – an article written by
Arati Dhar in The Hindu of 16th June 2013.
