Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has permitted the Delhi Health Department’s file on constituting the State Mental Health Authority (SMHA) whereas lashing out on the Aam Aadmi Party authorities for delaying the transfer by “more than five years”, Raj Niwas sources stated on Monday.

According to an official, Mr. Saxena made a number of notings on the proposal – forwarded by Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and endorsed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – for organising the SMHA with ex-officio members.

Hitting again, Mr. Bharadwaj stated the L-G had made the feedback on the SMHA file as a result of he was “unhappy” that the Minister had highlighted the difficulty of waterlogging on the G-20 Summit venue on Sunday.

2017 Act

The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, mandates the institution of an SMHA in every State inside 9 months from the date the laws acquired the President’s assent, stated the Raj Niwas official.

The SMHA holds a key function within the registration, supervision, and improvement of high quality care and providers in addition to norms for psychological well being institutions inside a State. It can be liable for registering medical psychologists, psychological well being nurses, and psychiatric social staff as psychological well being professionals within the State.

As per the Raj Niwas official, the L-G stated, “The Act specifically provides that apart from ex-officio members who are government employees, the SMHA shall have an eminent Psychiatrist who is not in government service, one mental health professional, one psychiatrist social Worker, one clinical psychologist, one mental health nurse (each with 15 years of experience), two persons representing those who have or have had mental illness, two persons representing caregivers, and two persons representing NGOs which provide services to people with mental illness.”

Mr. Saxena famous that “it is surprising that the proposal, after a lapse of more than five years since the enactment of the Act has been put up now and that too comprising only of ex-officio members. This cavalier approach exhibited by the [Health] Department in the constitution of such an important statutory authority is deeply disconcerting,” added the official.

The L-G additionally identified that it took a communication from the Union Ministry for Health and Family Affairs in August 2022, to get the Delhi authorities to behave on it. “Even then, the government did not care to expedite such statutorily warranted action, and the proposal kept pending before the Hon’ble Health Minister for almost four and half months,” his noting stated.

Mr. Saxena additionally requested the Health Department to “concurrently initiate” the method for choosing non-official members for the SMHA as per tips laid down within the Act and the Mental Health Care (State Mental Health Authority) Rules, 2018.

Pharmacy council delay

While Mr. Bharadwaj didn’t elaborate on the alleged delay in submitting the SMHA file, he accused the L-G of not notifying government-nominated members to the Delhi Pharmacy Council and returning the associated proposal to the federal government in May.

“Back then, the L-G was bound by the aid and advice of the elected government. Therefore, he did not want to approve the members recommended by the government. Now, since the GNCTD Amendment Act is in force, the L-G wants to recommend members as per his discretion. That is the reason why he is unhappy with the experts not being nominated as members in the SMHA,” the Minister stated.

Functions of SMHA

The Act additionally mandates the SMHA to publish the listing of registered psychological well being professionals and conduct coaching programmes for related people – together with legislation enforcement officers, psychological well being professionals, and different healthcare professionals – to teach them concerning the provisions and implementation of this legislation.