Amend the Mental Health Care Act 2017: A Survey of Indian Psychiatrists (Paper 1)

This paper highlights the difficulties and lacunae in the Mental Health Care Act 2017 that hinder its implementation and use for the care and treatment of persons with mental illness in India.

An online nationwide survey, involving structured questions as well as open-ended questions, to elicit the level of implementation, experience in complying with the provisions of the Act, and level of satisfaction, of practicing psychiatrists was carried out. Responses were analyzed using appropriate statistics.

600 respondents answered the online questionnaire. A majority of psychiatrists were senior practitioners with over 10 years of experience. 92.5% respondents were dissatisfied with the MHCA, wherein 73.3% wanted it amended, and 19.2% asked for repeal. Procedural issues were deterrent for 66.5% from taking medically necessary or helpful decisions for patients. Non-implementation of the Act was a major finding. Major dissatisfaction was expressed regarding judicial over reach in admission and discharge procedures, inclusion of general hospital psychiatry units in the definition of mental health establishment, non-applicability of provisions like advance directive and nominated representative in Indian setting, and that all treatment should be covered under insurance.

The Act in its present form defies the spirit of its own objectives and is unimplementable. It needs major revisions.