KARACHI: Effective enforcement of mental health laws stressed
KARACHI, Oct 21: Pakistan Mental Health Ordinance 2001 and the subsequent enactment of the Mental Health Act, a positive development vis-à-vis the perception of the mentally ill people, needs urgent attention at all levels for effective implementation.This was recommended by speakers comprising jurists and psychiatrists at a seminar on “Mental Health and Governing Laws”, organised by KPT/ Karwan-i-Hayat Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Psychiatric Patients Institute here on Saturday evening.
Barrister Khalid Anwer (a former law minister), Dr Ghous Mohammad (Chairman, Board of Visitors of the Federal Board of Mental Health), Prof. Mussarat Hussain (Head of the Psychiatry Department, JPMC), Dr Ajmal Kazmi (Consultant Psychiatrist) and Shaukat Ali Javed (an activist) spoke at the seminar. They also suggested reinforcement of the laws and their effective implementation to the benefit of the mentally ill people.Barrister Khalid Anwer, who was the chief guest on the occasion, stressed on the urgency to reinvigorate the Federal Mental Health Authority, a supervisory body to enunciate policies.
Failure in the realisation of this basic aspect of the Mental Health Act, he said, had been hampering the constitution of provincial-level bodies or the Board of Visitors, comprising doctors and psychiatrists who were supposed to implement the law.He said it was the state’s responsibility to establish health care facilities for the mentally ill. Provisions under the act for the establishment of a “court of protection for the rights of mentally ill envisaged specialists courts, he added.
“The current arrangement under which district judges have been assigned the responsibility to protect the rights is unrealistic as these judges are not only already overburdened but also have no formal training to handle such cases,” he observed.Prof Mussarat Hussain, referring to the available statistics, mentioned that psychological and neurological ailments may emerge as the second commonest diseases, only after cardiovascular diseases, by 2020 in the countries like Pakistan.
He observed that the laws which were in consonance to the local culture and conditions with a capacity to involve all sections of the society could be expected to make the difference for the weakest segments.
Justice (retd) Dr Ghous Mohammad referred to the laws running parallel in absolute contrast to each other affecting the very spirit of the Mental Health Act.He underscored the need for wide publicity to be given to the law, and suggested formulation of a mental health policy covering different aspects of the condition which affected people of all age groups and sections.
Shaukat Javed regretted the absence of team spirit among the people and professionals involved in most sincere and well-thought-out initiatives.Dr Kazmi talked of different laws needed to be enacted for the benefit of people in general and the medical community in particular.Handicrafts produced by the patients of the Karwan-i-Hayat Centre were also put on display and highly admired by the guests and participants of the seminar.—APP
