Citation

Prashanth N, Abraham S, Hongally C, Madhusudan S. Indian J. Psychiatry 2019; 61(10): S717-S723.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Medknow Publications)

DOI

10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_152_19

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

India has an enormous burden of mental illness. In spite of the recognition of this population of people living with mental illness, the treatment gap continues to be about 83%. In order to meet this vast unmet need and in the view of aligning the mental health legislation with the international standards and the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 was passed and enforced recently. The provisions in the act have been controversial from its conception. Now after the enforcement of the act, all mental health professionals (MHPs) have a legal binding to follow the provisions in the law. The MHPs are accountable to the statutory bodies - the Central Mental Health Authority, State Mental Health Authority (SMHA), Mental Health Review Board, and finally, the High Court or the Supreme Court. The Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA) and relevant articles/documents obtained pertaining to MHCA and their evaluation were reviewed, the major focus being on the role of statutory/regulatory bodies. Furthermore, an attempt was made to summarize the previous experiences in inspection of mental health establishments by SMHA of Karnataka. We concluded that the MHCA will have both positive and negative aspects. Many of the provisions in the law may appear unclear and unrealistic by many practitioners. However, it becomes precautionary for the MHPs to be well equipped with the MHCA and be acquainted with the requirements of the statutory bodies for ensuring a safe practice. The outcome of the implementation of the act will become evident only with time. © 2019 Indian Journal of Psychiatry | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow.

Language: en

Keywords

disability; human; suicide; Review; aggression; hospitalization; nurse; mental disease; mental health care; psychiatrist; health care quality; community care; hospital admission; length of stay; medicolegal aspect; medical record; mental health service; law enforcement; health survey; emergency health service; caregiver; hospital discharge; medical documentation; clinical psychology; clinical decision making; mental health care personnel; clinical audit; Mental Healthcare Act 2017; central mental health authority; hospital hygiene; manual ventilation; mental health establishments; state mental health care authority; statutory bodies