Sunday 27 September 2020 | 12:25
The House of Representatives, headed by Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, approved the draft law on the care of the psychiatric patient, laying down conditions and controls for the admission of mental patients, health facilities, to receive the necessary treatment, specifying the cases in which the psychiatric patient must be hospitalized.
The law stipulates that a psychiatric patient must not be admitted to a hospital compulsorily, except by referring to a psychiatrist, when there are some signs indicating the presence of a severe mental illness that requires his admission to a mental health facility, including the following two cases:
First case:
A marked deterioration in the patient’s mental state
The second case:
If the patient’s symptoms cause him a threat to his life, safety and health, or affect the health and safety of others.
In these two cases, the patient must be refused entry to the facility to receive the necessary treatment, provided that his eligibility, the facility director, the National Council for Mental Health or the Regional Council for Mental Health are notified of the decisions of mandatory admission of the patient within twenty-four hours of his admission accompanied by a report that includes an assessment of his health condition, and all of this is provided. As determined by the executive regulations of this law.
The Psychiatric Patient Care Bill stipulates that a psychiatrist, who is not a specialist in psychiatry, may enter a psychiatric patient into a mental health facility, without his will to assess his condition, for a period not exceeding 48 hours, after taking written permission to be submitted to the facility and submitted by one of the The following persons:
A relative of the patient up to the second degree, one of the specialized police officers, the social worker in the region, the competent health inspector, the consul of the country to which the foreign patient belongs, one of the psychiatry specialists who does not work in that facility and is not related to the patient or the director of the facility up to the second degree. The matter shall be submitted to the Public Prosecution within a period not exceeding 24 hours, to take all measures.
The responsible psychiatrist may not compulsorily enter the psychiatric patient before the aforementioned period, if his justifications are no longer available, provided that he informs the patient’s family, the facility manager, and the regional council for mental health.
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