Kathmandu, September 16 :

The government is preparing to introduce a legislation on mental health to protect the rights of people with mental problems within a month.

Though there is National Mental Health Policy-1996, the state has no legislation on mental health due to which the people with mental problems have been deprived of their basic rights.

Their right to property, treatment and the government’s role in their rehabilitation is not clear and the new legislation will address these issues, said Dr Kapil Prasad Upadhayaya, coordinator of the mental health legislation draft sub-committee.

Mentally disturbed people are more vulnerable to various kinds of violence but provision for their welfare is not adequate in the Muluki Ain (Civil Code).

In a country where the severity of mental health problems due to internal conflict is yet to be known, the law to protect the rights of the people with mental problems becomes even more important, said Dr Upadhayaya.

“The draft of the legislation will be submitted to the Health Ministry within a month.”

The sub-committee formed in 1999 could not submit the draft due to the dissolution of the House of Representatives. The draft will define the role of a family member, local administration and the government in the protection of a mentally disturbed person.

Now the government has provided only treatment services and the government programmes have to be expanded and reformed.

The seven-member sub-committee led by Dr Kapil Prasad Upadhyaya has Dr Dhruba Man Shrestha, Sapana Pradhan Malla, Rishi Raj Bhandari, Tika Ram Pandey, Krishna Bahadur Katwal and Janaki KC as members.

About 30 per cent of country’s population has one or other type of mental illness at any point of time but there are only 30 psychiatrists to cure them, according to the Health ministry.

The Mental Hospital admitted only 850 patients out of 22,000 in 2005 while in the previous year only 645 patients were admitted out of 19,000.