New mental health Care bill , India, 2013

HRD / Labour / Health The Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 The Mental Health Care Bill, 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 19, 2013.  The Bill repeals the Mental Health Act, 1987.  The Statements of Objects and Reasons to the Bill, state the government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007.  The Convention requires the laws of the country to align with the Convention. The new Bill was introduced as the existing Act does not adequately protect the rights of persons with mental illness nor promote their access to mental health care.  The key features of the Bill are: Rights of persons with mental illness:  Every person shall have the right to access mental health care and treatment from services run or funded by the government.  The right to access mental health care includes affordable, good quality of and easy access to services. Persons with mental illness also have the right to equality of treatment, protection from inhuman and degrading treatment, free legal services, access to their medical records, and complain regarding deficiencies in provision of mental health care. Advance Directive: A mentally-ill person shall have the right to make an advance directive that states how he wants to be treated for the illness during a mental health situation and who his nominated representative shall be.  The advance directive has to be certified by a medical practitioner or registered with the Mental Health Board.  If a mental health professional/ relative/care-giver does not wish to follow the directive while treating the person, he can make an application to the Mental Health Board to review/alter/cancel the advance directive. Central and State Mental Health Authority: These are administrative bodies are required to (a) register, supervise and maintain a register of all mental health establishments,(b) develop quality and service provision norms for such establishments, (c) maintain a register of mental health professionals, (d) train law enforcement officials and mental health professionals on the provisions of the Act, (e) receive complaints about deficiencies in provision of services, and (f) advise the government on matters relating to mental health.   Mental Health Establishments: Every mental health establishment has to be registered with the relevant Central or State Mental Health Authority.  In order to be registered, the establishment has to fulfill various criteria prescribed in the Bill. The Bill also specifies the process and procedure to be followed for admission, treatment and discharge of mentally ill individuals.  A decision to be admitted in a mental health establishment shall, as far as possible, be made by the person with the mental illness except when he is unable to make an independent decision or conditions exist to make a supported admission unavoidable. Mental Health Review Commission and Board: The Mental Health Review Commission will be a quasi-judicial body that will periodically review the use of and the procedure for making advance directives and advise the government on protection of the rights of mentally ill persons.  The Commission shall with the concurrence of the state governments, constitute Mental Health Review Boards in the districts of a state.  The Board will have the power to (a) register, review/alter/cancel an advance directive, (b) appoint a nominated representative, (c) adjudicate complaints regarding deficiencies in care and services, (d) receive and decide application from a person with mental illness/his nominated representative/any other interested person against the decision of medical officer or psychiatrists in charge of a mental health establishment. Decriminalising suicide and prohibiting electro-convulsive therapy: A person who attempts suicide shall be presumed to be suffering from mental illness at that time and will not be punished under the Indian Penal Code.  Electro-convulsive therapy is allowed only with the use of muscle relaxants and anaesthesia. The therapy is prohibited for minors.

Current Status: Pending Ministry: Health and Family Welfare Stage Date Introduction Aug 19, 2013 Com. Ref. Sep 18, 2013 Com. Rep. Nov 20, 2013 Lok Sabha Rajya Sabha Introduced Relevant Links   Standing Committee Report  (676 KB)   PRS Bill Summary  (104 KB)  Bill Text (849 KB) Related news articles Proposed mental health legislation can be misused: Delhi court, Zee News, Nov 29, 2013 New mental care bill has many pluses, Deccan Herald, Nov 22, 2013 A much-needed mental care Bill, Live Mint, Aug 27, 2013 In Rajya Sabha, bill to decriminalize suicide tabled,Times of India, Aug 22, 2013 New mental health bill decriminalises suicide, Hindu, Aug 21, 2013

 

Suicide Statistics for 2010, India

Suicide Statistics for 2010 is out : 69/130 women are housewives who committed suicide every day. 139 committed suicide per day Age 0-23] 123 committed suicide per day: [30-44] .................................................................................. SUICIDES  15 Suicides took place every hour.  More than one lakh persons (1,34,599) in the country lost their lives by committing suicide during the year 2010.  It is observed that social and economic causes have led most of the males to commit suicides whereas emotional and personal causes have mainly driven females to end their lives.  Suicides because of ‘Family Problems’ (23.7%) and ’Illness’ (21.0%) combined accounted for 44.7% of total Suicides.  The percentage of suicides due to 'Property Dispute' and 'Death of dear person' showed a relatively higher increase of 48.0% and 28.9% respectively.  The overall male:female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2009 was 65:35, however, the proportion of Boys : Girls suicide victims (upto 14 years of age) was 52:48.  Nearly 70.5% of the suicide victims were married males while 67.0% were married females.  Five States – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh – accounted for 65.8% of suicide victims in the age group 60 years and above.  69.2% of the suicide victims were married while 30.8% were un-married.  26.3% of the suicide victims were primary educated and 22.7% were middle educated while 19.8% of victims of suicide were illiterate.  1 suicide for every 5 suicides is committed by a Housewife.  41.1% of suicide victims were self employed while only 7.5% were un-employed.  Government servants were merely 1.4% of the total suicide victims.  West Bengal (11.9%), Andhra Pradesh (11.8%), Tamil Nadu (12.3%), Maharashtra (11.8%) and Karnataka (9.4%) contributed 57.2% of total suicide victims.  West Bengal has reported the highest number of suicide victims (accounting for 11.9%) in 2008 & 2009 and second highest in 2010 (accounting for 11.9%).  Southern States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu including Maharashtra have accounted for 51.7% of total suicides reported in the country.  Sikkim and Puducherry has reported 45.9 and 45.5 respectively suicidal deaths per one lakh of population as against the National average of 11.4. Cont... ( i x ) SUICIDES  More than (55.9%) children suicide victims belonged to five states – Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu out of 3,130 suicide victims.  Sikkim reported the highest rate of suicide (45.9) followed by Puducherry (45.5), A & N Islands (36.1), Kerala (24.6) and Chhattisgarh (26.6).  Tamil Nadu has reported significant increase in Suicides (16,561) in 2010 over 2009 (14,424) (an increase of 14.8%) followed by Maharashtra (from 14300 in 2009 to 15916 in 2010).  The highest number of Mass/Family Suicides cases were reported from Bihar (23) followed by Kerala (22) and Madhya Pradesh (21) and Andhra Pradesh (20) out of 109 cases.  33.1% of the suicide victims consumed poison; 31.4% of the victims died by hanging, 8.8% by Fire/Self-Immolation and 6.2% by Drowning. The trend of Suicide by Hanging has been mixed during last 3 years (32.2% in 2008, 31.5% in 2009 and 31.4% in 2010) while Suicide by Poisoning has shown decreasing trend in 2007 and 2008 (34.8% in 2008, 33.6% in 2009 and 33.1% in 2010).  Bengaluru (1,778), Chennai (1,325), Delhi (1,242) and Mumbai (1,192) – the four cities together have reported almost 40.5% of the total suicides reported from 35 mega cities.  Jabalpur has reported the highest rate of 41.5 and Kolkata reported the lowest rate at 2.1 only among 35 cities.  The pattern of suicides reported from 35 cities showed that ‘Hanging’ (44.5%), ‘Poisoning’ (20.6%) and ‘Fire/Self Immolation’ (12.6%) were the prominent means adopted by the suicide victims in the cities.  There is significant increase in number of suicides (136.5%) in Patna (from 63 in 2009 to 149 in 2010) while Dhanbad showed sharp decline of 60.5% (from 152 suicides in 2009 to 60 suicides in 2010).  The suicide rate in cities (12.7) was higher as compared to All-India suicide rate (11.4).