The current emphasis on a right-based approach to social problems has
led to the approval of the Mental Health Care Bill by the Union
cabinet, which is in consonance with the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities. It will ensure that all those who are
mentally challenged will have the right to treatment in the mental
health care institutions run or funded by the government. Considering
how women in the final stages of pregnancy are sometimes turned away by
hospitals, the assertion of the rights of the so-called insane, who are
among the most neglected and ill-treated in the country, is a welcome
step.
However, a legal measure should not act as a salve to official conscience, for the granting of a right alone is not enough. It is equally crucial to ensure the adequate implementation of the much-needed entitlement. Otherwise, a fate similar to what has happened in the case of the Right to Education Act where, as an official report says, only 30 per cent of Class III students can read a Class I textbook, may overtake the mental health care bill.
The possibility of such a dismal fallout is high because of the sorry state of the mental health care services at present where patients are the unfortunate inmates of overcrowded, unhygienic, poorly staffed and under-regulated centres. Since an estimated 40 million people in India are suffering from mental disorder, the 25,000 beds available for them in the 38 state-run institutions as well as private nursing homes and psychiatric wards of general hospitals fall woefully short. As a result, it is commonplace for Indian families to desist from sending a mentally ill relative to a health care centre. In tandem with the enactment of the law, therefore, the government has to focus on revamping the mental health care system with the latest medicines and equipment.
Source : The New Indian Express , 17th June 2013
However, a legal measure should not act as a salve to official conscience, for the granting of a right alone is not enough. It is equally crucial to ensure the adequate implementation of the much-needed entitlement. Otherwise, a fate similar to what has happened in the case of the Right to Education Act where, as an official report says, only 30 per cent of Class III students can read a Class I textbook, may overtake the mental health care bill.
The possibility of such a dismal fallout is high because of the sorry state of the mental health care services at present where patients are the unfortunate inmates of overcrowded, unhygienic, poorly staffed and under-regulated centres. Since an estimated 40 million people in India are suffering from mental disorder, the 25,000 beds available for them in the 38 state-run institutions as well as private nursing homes and psychiatric wards of general hospitals fall woefully short. As a result, it is commonplace for Indian families to desist from sending a mentally ill relative to a health care centre. In tandem with the enactment of the law, therefore, the government has to focus on revamping the mental health care system with the latest medicines and equipment.
Source : The New Indian Express , 17th June 2013
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