Supreme Court judge Justice A. K. Sikri on Saturday raised concerns about the rights of persons with mental illness citing an incident of an asylum in Uttar Pradesh where many intellectually challenged persons were chained.
He said: “This is happening in 2019 where we are talking about legal rights of the intellectually challenged persons. It is no more a health issue now.... it is an issue of their human rights as they are not getting a suitable environment which they need. They have the right to live like any other person.”
They are also citizens of this country and have the right to live with dignity, he said, adding that their rights to live have been violated by the authorities itself.
National seminar
Justice Sikri was speaking at the two-day national seminar on “ homeless and other unreached persons with mental illness ”, which began in the Capital.
Speaking at the seminar, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said: “If a person is studying in top institutes like IIT, then the student should not forget to contribute to the society. Now, the time has come when we need to give back at least something to the society.”
The seminar is being organised by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA), Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS), Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Science (IHBAS) and the State Mental Health Authority (SMHA).
Understanding that there is a scarcity of resources for mental health rehabilitation especially in government settings, the stakeholders stressed the need for collaborative care provided by different sectors in this area. Data shared here showed that a few homeless people are lucky to be rescued and get timely mental health treatment.
“The research conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research on urban mental health across three cities, including Delhi [2004 and 2009], states that approximately 8%-10% of the population in Delhi suffers from psychiatric illnesses like depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, among others with only 10-20% getting treatment. This gap in health interventions is more striking for those with severe mental illnesses who are homeless or living with families, considering the illness-related difficulties in help-seeking,’’ noted a release by the group.
Outreach services
Judicial orders in a few prominent cases have provided outreach services but this has not reached deeper levels to benefit the underprivileged groups, the experts said, adding that the implementation is incomplete and insufficient largely and also non-existing in some parts. “The conservative estimate states that at least 5,000 women and children are homeless in Delhi [NCW Study, 2004]. Apart from homeless people on streets, based on experience from clinical data of hospital and community outreach clinics, it has been found that there are several thousand people who are intellectually challenged, living in families who are brought to a hospital for treatment,’’ added the release. The seminar is aimed at assessing the magnitude and nature of the problem and document all possible initiatives that can be taken in this area with direct or indirect impact.
It also looks at the identification of good practice (replicable) models of service delivery in this area .
(With PTI inputs)
