Mental health authority yet to be formed in TS

HYDERABAD: The Mental Healthcare Act,2017, which received President’s assent on April 7, 2017, will finally come into force on July 7, 2018. However, the deadline given to State governments to form State Mental Health Authority ends on January-7. In a report published in TNIE on October 10, 2017, it was mentioned that Telangana had three more months to form the authority. That deadline now, is just two days away. 

Currently, there are no means for rehabilitation of people who have recovered and declared fit to be discharged from Institute of Mental Health, Erragadda, and at least 70 of them are waiting to be reintegrated with society. Superintendent of the Institute Dr M Umashankar said that on Thursday they reintegrated one person with family members.

Forming the State Mental Health Authority would help in addressing such issues as one of the functions of the authority is to ‘supervise all mental health establishments in the State and receive complaints about deficiencies in provision of services’. Though ‘State Authority for Mental Health Services’ was formed in Telangana as per The Mental Health Act,1987, the State Mental health Rules were not approved.“The draft rules were sent to State government which was supposed to be vetted.

But it got stuck there.  The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, was approved and an authority according to new guidelines had to be formed,” an official who is in know of the developments has said, adding that the new authority will be formed only after January 7.  In the recent rejig of IAS officers, spl chief secretary Rajeshwar Tiwari was transferred from Health and Family Welfare department and principal secretary A Santi Kumari was given charge of the post.