aarogya.com
  • Home
  • Complementary Medicine
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Naturopathy
    • Acupressure
    • Acupuncture
    • Aromatherapy
    • Batch Flower Remedies
    • Home Remedies
    • Massage
    • Yoga
    • Meditation
    • Reiki
    • Bodywork
    • Medical Palmistry
  • Conditions & Diseases
    • Acute Diarrheal Disease
    • Appendicitis
    • Blindness
    • Brucellosis
    • Chicken Pox
    • Conjunctivitis
    • Dysentery
    • Hookworm
    • Japanese Encephalitis
    • Lymphatic Filariasis
    • Plague
    • Rubella
    • Typhoid Fever
    • Yellow Fever
    • Allergy
    • Arthritis
    • Blood Pressure
    • Computer Health Hazards
    • Chikungunya Fever
    • Dengue
    • Guinea Worm
    • Influenza
    • Leprosy
    • Malaria
    • Poliomyelitis
    • Tetanus
    • Whooping Cough
    • Viral Hepatitis
    • Amebiasis
    • Asthma
    • Bronchitis
    • Diagnostic Tests
    • Cholera
    • Diphtheria
    • Hepatitis
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Leptospirosis
    • Measles
    • Rabies
    • Tuberculosis
    • Yaws
  • Family Health
    • Children's Health
    • Diet & Nutrition
    • First Aid
    • Fitness
    • Humor & Trivia
    • Men's Health
    • Preventive Health
    • Senior's Health
    • Senior Citizen Corner
    • Teen’s Health
    • Vets and Pets
    • Women’s Health
  • Health Resources
    • Blood Donation
    • Career Opportunities
    • Daily Health Tips
    • Health Programs
    • Featured Hospitals
    • Medical Education
    • Health Professional's Negligence
    • Medical Tourism
    • Video Eye
    • Rural Health
    • Patients' Rights Forum
  • Insurance
    • Euthanasia
    • Health Insurance
    • Health Insurance Policies
    • Insurance Companies
    • Medical Ethics
    • Medical Jurisprudence
    • Research
    • Telemedicine
    • Compare Health Insurance
  • Sex & Sexuality
    • What is Sex & Sexuality?
    • FAQs
    • Marriage & Pregnancy
    • Sex Education
  • Support Groups
    • Addiction
    • Aids
    • Cancer
    • Epilepsy
    • Swine Flu
    • Blood Search
    • Vivah
    • Health Directory
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Medical Support Groups
    • Cardiology
    • Depression
    • Depression Screening Test
    • Diabetes
    • Disability
    • Kidney
    • Obesity
    • Pregnancy
    • Schizophrenia
    • Vitiligo
Aarogya.com
Marathi | Gujarati | Register | Login
  • Home
  • News and Updates
  • Year 2011
  • India to Join Global Effort to Unchain Mentally Ill

India to Join Global Effort to Unchain Mentally Ill

  • Print
Details
Hits: 5730
Times of India
22 March 2011
By Kounteya Sinha
New Delhi, India

RIGHT TO LIVE WITH DIGNITY RIGHT TO LIVE WITH DIGNITY
India is all set to be part of the global movement to free mentally ill people from chains.
A shameful practice often referred to as a blot on human rights, mentally ill patients in the southeast Asia region, including India, are chained to poles or their beds in institutions meant to cure them.

In the Erwadi tragedy in India in 2001, over 20 people with mental illness were burned to death after a fire swept though an institute in which they were chained to their beds. Now, India in its draft Mental Health Care Bill 2010, which comes up for national consultation on Tuesday, prohibits "chaining of mentally ill patients in any manner or form".

It also prohibits electroconvulsive therapy without the use of muscle relaxants and anesthesia, electro–convulsive therapy for minors and sterilization of men or women, when is intended as a treatment for mental illness.

The bill also says that mentally ill patients can–t be subject to compulsory tonsuring (shaving of head hair) and have to wear own personal clothes and not be forced to wear uniforms provided by the facility.

The bill gives special mention to how minors with mental illnesses need to be handled. It says any person under the age of 18 years (minor) can be admitted to a mental health facility only in exceptional circumstances and when two psychiatrists have independently examined the minor on the day of admission or in the preceding seven days and both conclude that "the minor has a mental illness of a severity warranting admission to a mental health facility".

The bill gives least amount of importance to seclusion and admission in "facilities".
It says: "Mental health services shall provide treatment in a manner which supports persons with mental illness to live in the community and with their families. Long–term hospital–based mental health treatment shall be used only in exceptional circumstances, for as short a duration as possible, and only as a last resort when appropriate community–based treatment has been tried and shown to have failed."

According to the draft bill, physical restraint or seclusion may only be used when it is the only means available to prevent imminent and immediate harm to the person concerned or to others. Also physical restraint can only be used if it is authorized by the psychiatrist in charge of the person–s treatment at the mental health facility.

The draft bill also calls for the setting up of a Mental Health Review Commission within three months of the Act coming into force to exercise the powers. The commission–s president has to be of the level of a HC judge.

Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.

0
Introducing Digital Practice for Doctors & Healthcare professionals
Swine Flu
National Award for Outstanding achievement by a Non-Professional - Tushar Sampat
Health Professional's Negligence
Health Professional's Negligence
Records of published articles in the newspapers helps common people about precautions to be taken while seeking the services from health professionals and also helps health professionals to rectify the negligence.
read more…
Specialties
Common Symptoms


Aarogya Network

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties and give useful information on various diseases. To enhance its reach, the content is available in Indian languages too. We were the first health website to introduce online support groups. Addiction support and Epilepsy support are examples of some very active and vibrant communities.

» Click here to see all our support groups

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

 Get health related new information.

Pune Aarogya
Digital Media Dedicated to Healthcare of Punekars

Health Tools

  • Health Directory
  • Message Board
  • Health Calculators
  • Depression Screening Test

About Aarogya.com

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties

Read more...

Suggestions

This is YOUR site, so if you have suggestions or feedback on how we can improve it for you, please let us know! We do our best to keep up!

Read more...

User Comments

“My name is Paulette Conners and I just had to send you an email thanking you since one of the pages on your site was very helpful!”

  • About Us
  • Company Profile
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Feedback
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
  • Invite Your Friends

© 2017 www.aarogya.com. All Rights Reserved.