Mental Health Care Act 2017

a short review

Abstract

In order to improve the mental health of persons with mental illness and to protect their rights, a new law called the Mental Health Care Act, 2017, was enacted by the central government of India. Through this, all psychiatric hospitals, mentally ill homes and other mental health service providers who provide mental health and related services must abide by the provisions of this law. The previous law- the Mental Health Act,1987 did not have any features to  protect the rights of persons with mental illness. Following  the resolution that was passed at the United Nations Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, our Indian government accepted this resolution in October 2007 and  passed the new Mental Health Care Act, 2017 in our Parliament. This law emphasizes that the persons with mental illness should be treated with kindness and dignity. Also, the treatment system should be such that their freedom and rights are protected as much as possible. This article also describes in detail the various rights of persons with mental illness as discussed in the MHCA, 2017 such as Right to access mental health care, Right to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment, Right to community life, Right to equality and non-discrimination, Right to access to information, Confidentiality etc.