Dear Mental Health Professionals,
All of you are aware about the consultations, meetings going on to amend
the existing law
dealing with Mental illness which is called THE MENTAL HEALTH ACT 1987 which
used to deal only
with admission,treatment,stay and discharge of Mentally ill patients. You must
be also
aware of the same type of consultations , seminars, meetings going on to amend
the existing " THE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ACT 1995" into a new law called
"THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ACT , 2011" which deals with All
disabilities
including "THE DISABLED DUE TO MENTAL ILLNESS".
Some of the parents who have disabled children due to mental illness (as
per IDEAS SCALE)
were demanding inclusion of disabled due to Mental illness in the National
Trust act 1998 as per the
directive issued by the Supreme court in the Erawadi case in the year 2002 as
this is the only act
which answers the question " What will happen to my child when I am no more?"
in the form of GHARAUNDA
scheme, link is below
http://www.thenationaltrust.co.in/nt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=107&Itemid=164
The Parents and carers of those Disabilities who are Governing the National
trust are naturally opposed to
inclusion of Disabled due to Mental illness. The argument is given below is of
Mr.JP Gadkari who is not only a member of
Central coordination comittee in the PWDEA act 1995 but also a member of the
committee of 33 under
Dr.Sudha Kaul which was tasked to produce the "The Rights of Persons with
Disabilities act 2011".
"For the last five years or so mental illness lobby have been actively
pursuading a demand that mental illness should be covered by the National Trust
Act though there is a separate legislation called the Mental Health [MH] Act of
1987 in existence. "
"One has to take a serious note of the fact that mental illness with its very
nomenclature is an illness - a disease and it cannot be termed as a
disability. This illness can be cured with medication and probably a prolonged
treatment. What these persons need is rehabilitation measures once they are
cured. These provisions are there in the MH Act and also in the PD Act 1995.
There is absolutely no justification of their demand for inclusion under the NT
Act." (Mr.Gadkari, of PARIWAR)
In the "Statements of Objects and Reasons", the draft law of Feb 2011
states "---it is proposed to replace the current
disability legislations with a comprehensive law which recognized all rights of
all persons with
disabilities".Many amongst you may think that "disability legislations" means
1. Persons with Disabilities Equal opportunities act 1995
2.Rehabilitation council act 1992
3.The national Trust act 1998.
All above are governed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
But As per the Disability rights activists it includes also "The Mental
Health act 1987." and one can see from the link
below the views of eminent persons in the disability sector including Dr.Achal
Bhagat., a leading Psychiatrist.
http://www.mhrg.org/Sign-The-Petition.aspx
The views of Ms.Bhargavi Dawar one of the 33 in the committee to draft the new
law of 2011 is below..
http://dnis.org/features.php?issue_id=2&volume_id=8&features_id=180
The PWDEA act 1995 was passed in the year 1996. But the Indian
Psychiatrists Society , slept over the
demand of parents who have disabled children due to Mental illness to evolve a
scale immediately though
they had WHODDAS scale available as model.It is the Erawadi tragedy after 7
years which woke them up and IDEAS SCALE
was adopted by the Government. Half way homes, Day care centres, Long stay
homes, respite homes are not
available even in capital city Delhi what to talk of other urban centres.
Now even after IDEAS SCALE is enacted, the number of certificates issued is
few hundreds!!If 2% of counry's
population suffers from Mental illness and 1% severe illness, then the scale of
problem is visible.But then some of
the Mental Health professional of India are saying " Mental illness" is curable
(Not claimed by even developed
western nations) and it is just like Diabetes and one can function with daily
dosage of pills! No disability at all
as it is curable!!Then why mentally ill are abandoned by families in
streets?The following homeless mentally ill
do not even know how to beg, thank those who offer alms and just eat their own
shit.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/01/cnnheroes.krishnan.hunger/
These people have no address proof,no ration card, no disability card and so
not counted. There is going to be
turf war between the Ministry of Social justice and Ministry of Health. as the
new draft of Mental health
Act wants all rehabilitation institutions who look after the disabled also
should be under the purview of the
Mental Health act. The bureaucrats who run the RCI didnot
1)conduct NSS survey to find the number of Disabled due to mental illness as
ordained by law.
2)Didnot start an Institution to train professionals for rehabilitation nor it
trained the families as ordained by law.
3)The sleeping "human rights organisation called National Legal services
Authority also claims that
Mental illness is "curable" and has opened a centre at NIMHANS in 2011!!!
This confusion suits the bureaucrats who rule the Ministry of Social Justice
and my only prayer to all of you
is to clarify
1Is there a difference between "mentally ill and "disabled due to mental
illness?
2. Is "mental illness' curable?
3.Does the Mental health act 1987 should be part of new Disability rights law
of 2011?
The consultations about the Feb draft of the new rights law closes on 10th
march 2011.
With kind regards
"Greatness lies not in never falling but in rising everytime we fall"
Captain Johann samuhanand, BANGALORE INDIA
91 80 42023252
www.captainjohann.blogspot.com
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en
-------------
Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA
[email protected]
Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc
[email protected]
India-specific news and views related to mental health
[email protected]
Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues
[email protected]
Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social
learning amongst peers
