...that all their families have the sole intent of stripping them of their movable and immovable assets.
The Mental Health Care Bill 2013 is going to add to the miseries of the majority of the families in India who are giving a rich quality of care with little resources - with the added expenses for travelling for legal documentation for seeking treatments for their loved ones and for the flood of impending litigations because of the inherent trust in authority by the people of India.
The individual impacted the most in the family will be the one with a serious mental illness. Individuals with Cancer after chemotherapy which has terrible side-effects need to keep away from public places to avoid infections. Individuals with serious Mental Illness need an environment of peace without any conflict to heal after the treatments begin. Just as care is crucial after treatments for Cancer so it is for serious Mental Illness.
During the Consultative Process of making the Mental Health Care Bill 2013 the Government representatives and their legal advisers met numerous family care givers who spoke out their concerns and their willingness not to stand in the way of any of the rights of their loved ones with severe mental illness.
It is unfortunate that somewhere along the way there crept in the creators of the Bill - an intolerance to accept the social structure of the family in India.
"There are 65 million Indians with serious mental illnesses like Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Major depression…’
– states the report by National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi in August 2005
The Press Information Bureau release in August 2013 titled State-of-the-Art Mental Hospital states –“there are ‘40 State run Mental Hospitals’.
It is relevant to point out the following-
(a) That the numbers of patients in these hospitals who have not been reunited with their families are less than 2000.
(b) All the remaining millions of individuals with serious mental illness are not homeless.
(c) Where are they? Where else but living with their families.
Serious Mental Illnesses become chronic due to delay in treatments. With ongoing treatments, ongoing care is vital for individuals with serious mental illnesses to resume their daily activities and return to their education and/or employment to lead a life with purpose.
This crucial ‘informal’ care is being provided by members of families. The immense contribution of the 'family caregiver' in providing ‘informal’ care since India’s independence without laying stakes to their own Rights which the State is obligated to provide -> has not been acknowledged, recognized or defined in the Mental Health Care Bill 2013. Strange when there is an acute shortage of health care workers In India.
The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari in his Address at the 16th Convocation of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences at Bangalore stated the following-
"Currently India has five psychiatric nurses per ten million population to the global figure of 200;
three psychologists per ten million population to the global figure of 60; and
three social workers per ten million population to the global average of 40;"
Extremely strange too that the following exhortations of
The UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) have been disregarded especially when the objective of the Mental Health Care Bill is to be in consonance with the UNCRPD.
(i) ‘recognizes the need to promote and protect the human rights of all persons with disabilities including those who require more intensive support.’
(ii) ‘That the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State and that persons with disabilities and their family members should receive the necessary protection and assistance to enable families to contribute towards the full and equal enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities.’
Links:
1.State-of-the-Art Mental Hospitals
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=98101
2.Shortage of health care workers:Vice President http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79749
The Mental Health Care Bill 2013 is going to add to the miseries of the majority of the families in India who are giving a rich quality of care with little resources - with the added expenses for travelling for legal documentation for seeking treatments for their loved ones and for the flood of impending litigations because of the inherent trust in authority by the people of India.
The individual impacted the most in the family will be the one with a serious mental illness. Individuals with Cancer after chemotherapy which has terrible side-effects need to keep away from public places to avoid infections. Individuals with serious Mental Illness need an environment of peace without any conflict to heal after the treatments begin. Just as care is crucial after treatments for Cancer so it is for serious Mental Illness.
During the Consultative Process of making the Mental Health Care Bill 2013 the Government representatives and their legal advisers met numerous family care givers who spoke out their concerns and their willingness not to stand in the way of any of the rights of their loved ones with severe mental illness.
It is unfortunate that somewhere along the way there crept in the creators of the Bill - an intolerance to accept the social structure of the family in India.
"There are 65 million Indians with serious mental illnesses like Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Major depression…’
– states the report by National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi in August 2005
The Press Information Bureau release in August 2013 titled State-of-the-Art Mental Hospital states –“there are ‘40 State run Mental Hospitals’.
It is relevant to point out the following-
(a) That the numbers of patients in these hospitals who have not been reunited with their families are less than 2000.
(b) All the remaining millions of individuals with serious mental illness are not homeless.
(c) Where are they? Where else but living with their families.
Serious Mental Illnesses become chronic due to delay in treatments. With ongoing treatments, ongoing care is vital for individuals with serious mental illnesses to resume their daily activities and return to their education and/or employment to lead a life with purpose.
This crucial ‘informal’ care is being provided by members of families. The immense contribution of the 'family caregiver' in providing ‘informal’ care since India’s independence without laying stakes to their own Rights which the State is obligated to provide -> has not been acknowledged, recognized or defined in the Mental Health Care Bill 2013. Strange when there is an acute shortage of health care workers In India.
The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari in his Address at the 16th Convocation of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences at Bangalore stated the following-
"Currently India has five psychiatric nurses per ten million population to the global figure of 200;
three psychologists per ten million population to the global figure of 60; and
three social workers per ten million population to the global average of 40;"
Extremely strange too that the following exhortations of
The UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) have been disregarded especially when the objective of the Mental Health Care Bill is to be in consonance with the UNCRPD.
(i) ‘recognizes the need to promote and protect the human rights of all persons with disabilities including those who require more intensive support.’
(ii) ‘That the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State and that persons with disabilities and their family members should receive the necessary protection and assistance to enable families to contribute towards the full and equal enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities.’
Links:
1.State-of-the-Art Mental Hospitals
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=98101
2.Shortage of health care workers:Vice President http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79749
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