124 amendments to mental health law

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 28

The Mental Healthcare Bill passed by the Rajya Sabha in the recently concluded session of Parliament received the highest ever amendments for any draft law.

Addressing concerns around the new Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016 which the Cabinet has approved, Health Minister JP Nadda said, “The government has indicated its intentions on surrogacy regulation through the Surrogacy Regulation Bill. But we are open to changes and suggestions to make the Bill better. No Bill is a final document. The Mental Healthcare Bill we piloted recently received 124 amendments, the highest for any law. So, changes are welcome and we are open to them.”

The new Mental Healthcare Bill, which replaces the Mental Health Act of 1987, was recently passed by the Rajya Sabha where it received 124 amendments. The Bill could not be listed for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha and will now be presented to the Lower House in the Winter Session of Parliament.

The Bill prohibits electro convulsive therapy in children and makes it mandatory for medical experts to use electric shocks only under anaesthesia for adult patients. It further lists a range of rights for mental health patients and makes cruelty towards them punishable with both a jail term and fine.

Questioned on the nature of amendments received on the Bill, Nadda said, “Around 45 of the 124 amendments we got are substantial amendments with majority of them related to the safety and security of the patients of mental illness. The rest are technical amendments.”

The highlight of the Bill is the advanced directive detailing the kind of treatment people would want in case they contract a mental illness. The Bill also provides for more checks on involuntary admission of the ill, which is currently a norm. It says admission to facilities would be limited to specific circumstances (when the patient is violent/suicidal/ neglected/or lacks care) and will be limited to 30 days initially and subsequently to 90 days. At present, the first admission is allowed until 90 days.

The Bill also prohibits and criminalises sterilisation of men or women when such sterilisation is intended as a treatment for mental illness and chaining of the patients, which too is common.