http://nhrc.nic.in/forthcomingevents.htm
Date : 30 May 2014Venue : India International
Centre Seminar Hall, Kamladevi Complex, Max Mueller Marg, Delhi
Background Note
A series of international human rights treaties and other instruments
have been in place since 1945. The United Nations (UN) provided an ideal forum
for the evolution and adoption of these instruments. It is explicitly mentioned
in Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that
"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and
medical care and necessary social services,.....". The inclusion of "health"
and "medical care" in the UDHR has led to Article 12 in the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966. The UN Principles for
the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental
Health Care, 1991 recognizes the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards
of physical and mental health as the right of every human being. In 1996, the
World Health Organization prescribed ten basic principles for 'Mental Health
Care Law' which acts as a guide to assist countries in developing mental health
laws.
2. The Constitution of India guarantees certain Fundamental Rights to all
its citizens. The provisions of Article 21 - "Protection of life and personal
liberty" have been judicially interpreted to expand the meaning and scope of
the right to life to include the right to health and to make it a guaranteed
Fundamental Right which is enforceable by virtue of the constitutional remedy
under Article 32 of the Constitution. It is therefore imperative that the
mentally ill persons receive good quality mental health care and human living
conditions not only in institutions but also in their homes. Despite this,
mental health care is not perceived as an important aspect of public health
care. The mental health legislations in India, in particular, the Mental
Health Act, 1987 and the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,
Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, have one common
objective, that is, to provide dignified living, protect human rights and
address the promotive, preventive and curative aspects of mental health.
However, due to their ineffective implementation, these Acts have not provided
the desired results.
3. The National Human Rights Commission, as part of its mandate under
Section 12, has been visiting mental institutions under the control of the
State Government, where persons have been detained or lodged for the purposes
of treatment, reformation or protection, for the study of the livings
conditions of the inmates thereof and make recommendations thereon to the
Government. In 1997, as per the directions given by the Supreme Court of India
in W.P (Criminal) NO. 1900/1981, Dr. Upendra Buxi vs State of Uttar Pradesh and
others, it has been monitoring the functioning of three mental hospitals in
Agra, Gwalior and Ranchi. In the same year, the NHRC also commissioned a
project to NIMHANS to review the mental health situation in the country,
particularly in the mental hospitals. The outcome of this project resulted in
a publication titled "Quality Assurance in Mental Health". Subsequently, on
its own initiative, the NHRC started monitoring the functioning of all the
mental hospitals in the country. The Chairperson, Members, Special Rapporteurs
and senior officials of the Commission have been visiting the mental hospitals
to study the conditions of mentally ill persons in these hospitals and bring to
the notice of the concerned State Governments, the need for improvement in the
functioning of mental hospitals.
4. The Commission has also constituted a Core Group on Mental Health to
study the problems in rehabilitation of patients who are cured and formulate an
integrated programme for rehabilitation of patients and establishment of
Half-Way Home for the three mental hospitals in Agra, Ranchi and Gwalior. It
has been recommended by the Core Group that the basic needs of mentally ill
persons should be met and they should have access to all entitlements including
health insurance and pension.
5. In the year 2008-2009, the Commission urged the Medical Council of
India (MCI) and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to augment their efforts
for meeting the demand of adequate manpower in the field of mental health. It
thus proposed to the MCI to relax its Post-Graduate standards from the present
norm of 'one Professor for one student' in Psychiatry to 'one Professor and two
students'.
6. In collaboration with NLSIU and NIMHANS in Bangalore, the Commission
also organized a "National Conference on Mental Health and Human Rights".
Thereafter, five Regional Review Meetings on Mental Health were organized by
the Commission during 2009-2011 and a series of recommendations were made and
sent to all the stakeholders for compliance.
7. It took a serious note of the condition of mentally challenged persons
wrongly languishing in prisons without proper medical care and attention. It is
due to Commission's effective monitoring that the number of mentally ill
persons languishing in various jails has come down considerably. It has also
been deeply concerned about mentally ill persons wandering in streets without
any proper care and treatment. These persons are often subjected to
ill-treatment and even sexual exploitation in the case of women. This is
largely due to the poor implementation and limited knowledge about the
provisions of the Mental Health Act, 1987 by the law-enforcing authorities. In
this regard, it has reiterated to all the State Governments/UTs to lay emphasis
on Section 25 of the Mental Health Act, 1987, which specifies the powers and
duties of police officers in respect of certain mentally ill persons.
8. The Commission also took up the plight of persons with mental illness
languishing in Chamatkari Hanuman Temple in the Chindwara district of Madhya
Pradesh due to a mistaken belief that with the blessings of the deity, the
mentally ill people will be cured. On the request of NHRC, the Union Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare sent a team from NIMHANS, Bangalore to visit
Hanuman Temple and the Civil Hospital in Chindwara District. On the basis of
the recommendations of report, the Commission suggested the Government of
Madhya Pradesh to ensure that district authorities create a proper home for
mentally ill persons where they stay and get themselves treated and
rehabilitated.
9. Taking forward the concerted efforts of the Commission towards the
protection of human rights of mentally ill persons the Commission has sought
the intervention of the Hon'ble Supreme Court to issue appropriate directions
in the following areas of concern:
There is a need to undertake a country wide epidemiological survey to identify
the magnitude of the problem of mental health with a perspective plan
concerning the task, financial implications, time-frame etc. in view of the
present as well as future requirement of the problems.
There is need to give priority in allocation of financial resources by the
Central and State Governments for the regular maintenance and upgradation of
the physical infrastructure of mental health institutes/hospitals.
Lack of adequate administrative and financial powers to the Director's and the
Superintendents of the Mental Hospitals is seriously affecting their
functioning.
Existing state run mental hospitals should be converted into
Teaching-cum-Training Institutes with adequate financial and manpower resources.
The concerned State Governments may be directed to sanction medical and
para-medical manpower to these institutions/hospitals as recommended by the
Commission.
Sufficient number of seats may be created in medical colleges in MD Psychiatry,
M. Phil in Clinical Psychology and Psychiatric Social Work by relaxing the
existing norms of Medical Council of India.
There is need to train an integrated team of Psychiatrists, Neurologists,
Neurosurgeons, Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatric Social workers Nurses etc.
to mange mental hospitals, Medical College Hospitals & District Hospitals in
the country.
Psychiatry and mental health care should be made a compulsory independent
subject in the MBBS examination so that the young medical professionals become
capable of identifying the problem at the initial stage itself.
Every State/UT must have atleast one mental hospital fully equipped with latest
equipments, a well developed infrastructure.
There is a need of removal of all the deficiencies in the existing mental
health hospitals w.r.t. living conditions, providing nutritious and balanced
food, water supply, cleanliness and hygiene, environment, sanitation,
recreation, etc. in a time bound manner.A national database of services and
human resource manpower on mental health care should be created by the Central
Government.
10. In order to look into the above facts and to discuss that there is a
need for a coordinated and concerted effort on the part of all stakeholders to
ensure a dignified care and treatment system for the mentally ill persons in
the country, the Commission has decided to organize a National Conference on
Mental Health and Human Rights on 30 May 2014 at India International Centre,
Seminar Hall, First Floor, Kamladevi Complex, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi -
110003.
Objectives
11. The main objectives of the Conference will be to:
discuss ways in which the mental health services could be strengthened from the
perspective of human rights, in terms of availability, accessibility,
affordability and quality of mental health care;discuss the approach of
involving the community in the management of mentally ill persons and sharing
of best practices;discuss ways in which the human resources for mental health
care can be improved so that proper care and treatment is given to mentally ill
persons; anddiscuss strategies for creating awareness among people especially
in rural areas regarding the factual information about mental illness and ways
to deal with it scientifically.
Participants
12. The participants will include the representatives of concerned Union
Ministries, Directors of all Mental Hospitals, National Commission's, State
Human Rights Commissions, NGOs, technical institutions like MCI, NIMH, NCI and
RCI and community based mental health care working in the field of mental
health and representatives of the International Organizations.
*****
Source http://nhrc.nic.in/forthcomingevents.htm
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