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‘Implementation of Mental Health Act tardy in State’

BERHAMPUR: Implementation of the Mental Health Act is still a distant dream in the State, opine legal and medical experts.

They were speaking at a programme organised in the psychiatry ward of MKCG Medical College Hospital in the city on Thursday. It was organised by the Ganjam District Legal Aid Cell as part of the Mental Health Week.

It was an effort to create awareness among policemen, medical professionals and general public about the Act which had come into effect in April 1993.

District Judge for Ganjam and Gajapati B.K. Mishra appealed to policemen, health officials, judicial officials and the public handle mental health cases carefully.

It was pointed out that despite rise in number of patients, mental health was yet to be integrated at the primary health care level. Even district level hospitals did not have psychiatrists to cope with cases of mental illnesses.

The Act mandates provision of mental health care at primary health care level. But it seemed to be an unachievable goal due to shortage of professionals and lack of resources. A lawyer T.K. Reddy, quoting the information provided by the State government under the RTI Act, said the government was yet to come up with a notification indicating as to who should act as magistrate under the Mental Health Act implemented in the State. The Health Department also informed Mr. Reddy that the government had not been able to implement recommendations of the Act due to lack of experts. Senior judicial officials, including Registrar Aravind Guru, principal of medical college J.P. Behera and college superintendent Sunamani Bag attended.

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