Mental Healthcare Act 2017

Mental Healthcare Act 2017: An Analysis

Legal Documents & Acts BLOG/ NEWS LAW EXPLAINED Legal News

OVERVIEW

[Trigger Warning: Talks about mental health ]

You might have experienced some fear, anxiety, and depressive thoughts before entering a stage or after a traumatic experience. The reasons may sound simple and harmless, but the roots of our messed up thoughts dive deep in our history, surrounding environment, and cognition abilities. It gets severe enough that a person is unable to function in simple daily life situations, and ending their own life, harming themselves seems the only right option. The complexities of life have also amplified the chaos in our minds.

In this regard, the Convention of Rights of the persons with Disabilities was enacted on 3 May 2008 to safeguard the rights of people with disabilities, changing the attitude towards them from “objects” to “subjects” who have rights, dignity, free will, and consent. Thereby making it, states and the government’s obligation to protect their rights. India also signed to it. In accord with the Convention, the Mental Health Act (MHA) was introduced by Ghulam Nabi Azad which came into force on 7 July 2018.

National Mental Health Survey 2015-16, conducted by NIMHANS, reported that mental morbidity (presence of any kind of mental illness) was approximately 10.6% currently and 13.7% in a lifetime. With a difference of 70-92% in the treatment of these illnesses. MHCA is undoubtedly a progressive act, providing all rights to people with mental illness and provision to set up Mental Health Boards, at the national, state, and district level.

It defines mental illness broadly, unlike in the previous laws. It defines Mental Illness as “a substantial disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that grossly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, mental conditions associated with the abuse of alcohol and drugs, but does not include mental retardation which is a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person, especially characterized by subnormality of intelligence.”

As we know effective implementation is necessary to ensure the care reaches the person in need, provisions for the same have been neglected in the act.

Decriminalizing Suicide: Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code

Under Section 309 of IPC, any person attempting to suicide was considered to have committed an offense and subjected to be jailed for a year. MHCA 2017 nullifies this and declares that any person attempting suicide will immediately be considered going through extreme stress unless proofed otherwise.

Highlights of the Mental Healthcare Act 2017:

  • It recognizes many rights of persons with mental illness (PMI), which are – Right to community living, right to equality, right to confidentiality, right to access medical care and records, right to protection from cruelty and inhumane treatment, and nondiscrimination.
  • It ensures that PMI has the right to complain against the provisions of mental health care.
  • Insurance Companies shall provide insurance for mental illness.
  • It is the duty of the State to compensate if the services for mental health care are not provided. It is also the responsibility of the States to train mental health professionals.
  • Decriminalizing suicide as discussed above.
  • Government hospitals are to provide free mental healthcare to people below the poverty line, even without a BPL card. They shall also provide drugs under Essential Drug Lists, appropriate homeopathy, Ayurveda medicines for free.
  • Provision for Advance Directives, legal documents written by PMI for “how they want to be cared” and “how they should not be cared for” if they become incapable of making choices because of mental illness.
  • It also provides for the appointment of a Nominated Representative to care for them and take decisions on their behalf, in case of being incapacitated.
  • It bans the use of sterilizing, Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) without anesthesia, and any type on children.

ANALYSIS

[Loopholes, shortcomings, and improvements required ]

The Act is certainly evolved in affirming the rights of mentally ill people. But it’s implementation strategy has been absolutely poor. There is no mention of how the provisions written are to be implemented and established. Many psychiatrists have raised questions for not including personality disorders in mental illness. As depression is not contagious but it makes a negative environment for others, making them prone to depression too. In this regard, there is no mention of the rights of family members of the person suffering from illness. Many researchers demur and question the fact that laws are not made considering the traditional conditions of India, where the family is the primary caregiver. It does not facilitate or recognize the efforts of families and their role and need for support.

The provision for mental healthcare hospitals to be recognized by the Mental Health Review Board will affect the number of hospitals for the same unlikely. Mental illnesses are complex, and psychiatric associations raise concern over the rigidity of right for PMI to choose their treatment, and inadequacy of quasi-judicial Boards, for the delay in treatments, and hindrance for families as PMI may change their Advance Directives (AD)several times a day. ECT in extreme cases through extensive worldwide research has shown to be effective around 70-80%, but it is now banned. The Act should take into account various research, and clarify the confusion regarding Section 3 which says that mental illness should be understood via the internationally recognized standards, instantly.

For years only 0.05% (around 45 crores) of the Annual Budget is being spent on mental health, which is equivalent to what some Bollywood stars charge for a single movie, or our PM’s one day abroad travel expenses. The study from WHO stated that there is a loss of  $1 trillion in the Indian economy from 2012-2030 due to a mental health crisis. Though the development of the rights of mentally ill people is a positive, and commendable approach, there is immediate need to provide in the budget for mental healthcare, for effective implementation of the Act, and protecting the nation’s citizens.

This blog is written by Dharna Prasad, Hindu College.

Some of her blogs-

Visit our Instagram page @lawyergyan at this link.

For more BLOG/ NEWs, CLICK HERE.

Please Subscribe for more updates.

Get Lawyers Gyan in your Email & Join 10000+ Lawyers!!

WhatsApp Group Join Now
Telegram Group Join Now
Instagram Group Join Now

Leave a Reply