Disabled Rights Group Asks for PMO's Intervention in Preparation of Mental Health Bill

The Disabled Rights Group has urged the Prime Minister's Office to intervene and make sure that their concerns are addressed after revealing that they were not happy with the healthy ministry's new mental health bill.

Led by Disabled Rights Group head Javed Abidi, a delegation met L.K. Atheeq, joint secretary in the PMO.

Abidi said that Atheeq assured them that their concerns would be looked into.

The activists claimed that the draft Mental Healthcare (MHC) Bill 2012, which is likely to be brought to a cabinet meeting soon, deprives the liberty of disabled people and favours medical professionals and psychiatrists.

"It would make it easier to forcibly confine a person into a mental asylum. Under the new bill, the role of the judiciary has been taken off and a psychiatrist can decide whether a person can be put in mental asylum or not," said Abidi.

Activists Wednesday burnt copies of the bill outside the health ministry in Nirman Bhawan in the capital.

Source: IANS