Prepare plan to rehabilitate cured patients, discharge 50-70 of them every month: HC to State Authority

Taking serious note of the fact that hundreds of cured patients are languishing in mental health institutions across the state, the Bombay High Court on Friday directed the State Mental Health Authority to prepare a six-month comprehensive plan for the rehabilitation of cured patients

MUMBAI: Taking serious note of the fact that hundreds of cured patients are languishing in mental health institutions across the state, the Bombay High Court on Friday directed the State Mental Health Authority to prepare a six-month comprehensive plan for the rehabilitation of cured patients.

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The division bench of justice Nitin Jamdar and justice MM Sathaye issued the directive after finding that the State Mental Health Authority did not have any plan for rehabilitation of the patients with mental illness.

The bench also directed the authority to discharge at least 50 to 70 cured patients from each mental health establishment monthly, either to their family homes, halfway homes, or rehabilitation centres. Additionally, the bench instructed the authority to establish quality and service provision standards for various types of mental health establishments and publish them on its website within four months.

The court issued the directives on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Dr Harish Shetty, a city psychiatrist, highlighting shortcomings in the implementation of the legal framework for mental health care and the protection of the rights of individuals with mental health problems – the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.

In his petition filed through advocate Pranati Mehra, Dr Shetty had sought urgent collection of data and reports from all regional mental health hospitals in the state regarding details of the patients, especially those languishing in the institutes even after being ready to be discharged, and necessary directions for proper implementation of the statutory framework.

During the hearing on the PIL, the state government supplied details of patients from four regional mental hospitals at Thane, Pune, Nagpur and Ratnagiri, where 1,022 patients were languishing though they were fit for discharge.

The court was informed that relatives were not traceable in the case of 208 of these “fit for discharge” patients, as the family members or close relatives had either changed addresses or changed their contact numbers. Over 363 individuals await rehabilitation due to insufficient family support. This is often due to elderly relatives being unable to provide care or a lack of acceptance from family members.

The court was informed that proposals for the discharge of at least 451 fit patients were pending due to a lack of response from their family members.

After the court took serious note that 475 of the patients were languishing in the four regional mental hospitals for over ten years and at least two psychiatrists had found at least 379 individuals fit for discharge.

“That meant that 379 patients in mental health establishments, even after more than ten years, could be discharged, yet continue to live in these establishments,” the court said about the episode. “This was indeed a deplorable situation.”