What is Mental Healthcare bill? | Fusion - WeRIndia

The Mental Healthcare bill was passed in parliament on Monday. This is one of the most hyped and historical bills to be passed.

The bill is aimed to remove the criminalization of a suicide attempt treating them as mentally ill people. The idea is to instead promote better healthcare for people suffering from mental illness. ​

There were many amendments to this bill by the opposition members. However, they were all defeated and the bill successfully passed by the House by a voice vote.

The bill passed through Rajya Sabha in August last year with 134 official amendments.

The main points of the bill are:

As per the new bill, any person who attempts suicide shall be presumed to be suffering from mental illness and they won’t be punished under the Indian Penal Code.

Every person will have the right to access mental health care and treatment from services run or funded by the government. Homeless and those belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) get free treatment even without a BPL card.

A mentally ill person has the right to make an advance directive on how he wants to be treated.

Medical practitioners and health professionals are not held liable for any unforeseen consequences after following the directives.

Electric shock therapy is only to be allowed with the use of muscle relaxants and anesthesia. It is now prohibited for minors.

A mentally ill person should not be sterilized.

Without the consent of the person, the information related to the mental illness of a person cannot be released to media without his/her consent.

If any violator tries to break the provisions of the Bill, they can land in jail for six months or get fined ₹10,000 or both. Repeated offenders can also face up to two years in jail or get a fine of ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh.

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