New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday directed Odisha and other states to lay down a timeline for inoculating inmates lodged in mental healthcare institutions for Covid-19.
A three-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli asked the state governments to lay down a time-bound schedule for vaccination of inmates as well as the healthcare staff associated with such institutions within a period of one month.
The bench asked the state governments to submit status reports on vaccination of such inmates by October 15 with the Union ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The Supreme Court also directed the states to set up online dashboards within four weeks containing information about availability of mental healthcare institutions, facilities provided, occupancy and region-wise distribution of halfway homes in the states.
The bench said that the information is to be updated on the portal on a real-time basis.
The top court directed that halfway homes must be established by all states as expeditiously as possible within a period of six months and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment was asked to hold meetings at least once a month with all states to keep a track of the progress of establishment of halfway homes and rehabilitation of mentally-ill persons.
Significantly, the order came after a petition was filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal seeking rehabilitation of mentally-ill patients and directions to the state governments to protect, safeguard and promote the rights of inmates lodged in mental healthcare institutions.
The petitioner pleaded with the court to ensure that persons institutionalised in Mental Health Establishments have adequate sanitary conditions and their privacy intact. He pleaded the court to direct respondents to issue Aadhaar card and voter card to the persons institutionalised in mental health establishments and issue disability certificates as well as pension.
“Direct the respondents to allow women institutionalised in Mental Health Establishments to keep their children with them by way of establishing separate ‘mother child ward’ in each and every Mental Health Establishment as mentioned under the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 & Section 21 (2) and 24 (3) (d) of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016,” the petition reads.