No provision for group or halfway home till date I Mental Healthcare Act-2017 mandates setting up of facilitiesUT Administration’s policy for the mentally ill — Assurances

Kaveesha Kohli

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 18

The UT Administration has not set up a single group or halfway home for people suffering from mental illnesses despite the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 mandating governments across the country to do so.

In 2019, officials met several times to discuss the matter, but claim to have been stuck on account of shortage of land. “Some proposals are under consideration. Our major constraint is shortage of land,” said UT Adviser Manoj Parida.

Navjot Kaur, Director of the Social Welfare Department, said the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had been asked to provide a copy of the policy for group homes. “The Social Justice and Health departments of Punjab and Haryana have been requested to identify land in Mohali and Panchkula for setting up joint group homes,” she added.

According to mental health advocate Aditya Rametra, more than 70 families had signed up for a group home in the city. “While the list was submitted in July 2019, a subsequent survey conducted among psychiatrists in Chandigarh revealed that as many as 400 persons with mental illness may need the facilities of group homes,” he said. A group home is an assisted-living facility for the mentally ill, much like an old-age home, but with a psycho-social worker, a clinical psychologist and counsellors or therapists.

While group homes are meant for the longer-term stay of patients with chronic mental illness, halfway homes are for people who no longer require hospitalisation and need to stay in a “transient” place between a home and a hospital for a few months.

‘Right’ under the Act

It was in April 2017 that the Mental Healthcare Act laid down clear guidelines for group homes. According to Rametra, the law makes it the “right” of a person with mental illness to stay in a government-owned or facilitated group home, if required.

“We are not begging; the law is on our side. This is our right,” said a city-based woman whose brother suffers from memory loss and is completely dependent on their 61-year-old single mother.

In 2019, after observing no “tangible progress”, Rametra and three other parents filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and the UT Administration was directed to decide on the representation within three months. Subsequently, officials met at least five times, including with families of patients and Rametra.

In July, officials decided that Cheshire Home in Sector 21 would be converted into a halfway home by August 31,

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