Advocacy on Paper, Action in Progress: A Review of MHCA 2017

The introduction of the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 indicated a shift in the governance of Mental Healthcare in the country with focus on human rights, accessibility, informed consent, and dignity. The Act was meant to encourage autonomy, reduce coercion, and focus on community care, however, the implementation continues to be hampered with systemic and infrastructural issues. This review looks at the enabling and the disabling aspects of the Act, concentrating on the availability of mental health services, the implementation of the rights of patients, and the legal enforcement of the Act. The review relies on secondary sources, research, and the treatment advocacy literature and governmental data and literature on various states to ascertain the equity of the advocacy and the treatment experience of the mentally ill. This review tries to identify the gaps, and the systemic issues of patients, families, mental health care providers and the community, and attempts to explain the rational gaps of the Act with limited review literature. The review outlines the gaps to improve accountability, support, and infrastructure, and the rights guaranteed under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 might provide real support to the patients and their families.