Mental Health Review at NIMHANS, Bangalore

The Commission organized a two-day meeting of Health Secretaries and Mental Health Authorities of all States/UTs at NIMHANS, Bangalore on May 8 and 9, 2008. Justice Shri Y. Bhaskar Rao, Member, NHRC, inaugurated the meeting. In his address, Justice Bhaskar Rao referred to the inequity in the distribution of skilled human resources for mental health and five key barriers that needed to be overcome in order to increase the availability of mental health services viz absence of mental health from the public health agenda and the implications for funding; the current organization of mental health services; lack of integration within primary care; inadequate human resources for mental health and lack of public mental health leadership. The Member said that the Mental Health Act in India suffered from various lacuna and failed to fully protect the rights of the patients in the mental hospitals.
He expressed deep concern on the harrowing conditions prevailing in mental hospitals all over the country as many of them were functioning as custodial rather than therapeutic institutions.
Justice Shri Y. Bhaskar Rao referred to the mandate of the Commission to visit the government run mental hospitals to study the living conditions of the inmates and make recommendations thereon. He said that the most notable intervention of the Commission in mental health had been a project on "Quality Assurance in mental health", launched in 1997. Justice Rao, referred to the PILs filed in the Supreme Court on the affairs of the mental hospitals at Ranchi, Agra, Gwalior following which, the Apex court laid down aims and objectives for such institutions. The Member also expressed concern about the pace of implementation of the recommendations of the Supreme Court or the NHRC, with regard to mental health which had been tardy. He referred to the Commission's initiative regarding half way homes in collaboration with the civil society. He also highlighted the shortfall of psychiatrists, which necessitated the need for relaxation of norms by the Medical Council of India. He asked the State Governments, in particular the concerned authorities to implement the Supreme Court and NHRC's orders with respect to quality assurance in mental hospitals.