No Rules Notified Yet For Mental Health Act 2017

The first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic underlined the importance of good mental health services, but most states, including Maharashtra, are yet to notify the rules of the Mental Healthcare Act 2017.

Mumbai: The Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA) 2017 has been lauded for its patient-centric approach and the focus on rehabilitation of patients with their families as against languishing in mental hospitals. Yet Karnataka is the only state to have got its act together set up the mandated State Mental Health Authority (SMHA), the Mental Health Review Board and notified the new act's rules. "Notifying the rules of an act is the first step towards implementing a law. It's unfortunate that even after four years only one state has managed to do it," said Jeetendra Ghadge of The Young Whistleblowers Foundation, who got information about the MHA's implementation under RTI from the ministry of health and family welfare's mental health division.