When Shirley Ann Muscat was hospitalised for psychiatric treatment nine years ago she felt she had lost contact with her three-year-old son and that their bond became fragile.
“We had bonding problems at the time. Now that he is 12, they’ve been resolved but there was a time when he did not want to stay alone with me,” she said.
A few years after being diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Ms Muscat was admitted to St Luke’s Hospital’s psychiatric unit for three weeks.
A year later, the mother of two stopped taking her medication and relapsed. She spent two weeks at Mount Carmel Hospital.
During hospitalisation she had little contact with her son and, she admitted, did not ask to see him due to her state of mind.
Had the new Mental Health Act been in place, the hospital authorities would have had to ensure Ms Muscat’s bond with her son was maintained.
But the revised law remains in the pipeline and patients like Ms Muscat remain without legal parent-child bond protection.
Dolores Gauci, CEO of the Richmond Foundation – which works with people with mental health problems – is tired of fighting for the act to come into force.
In 2007 the Health Ministry issued the draft for consultation but the law has yet to be enacted despite promises and missed deadlines.
“What is holding back this legislation? Is it because the mental health of the nation is not important to the government?” she said.
The new law, which will replace the antiquated 1976 legislation (based on the 1959 British Mental Health Act) , brings into force better protection for patients, the safeguarding of their rights and social inclusion.
The draft introduces a mental health commissioner to protect patients’ rights.
Community treatment is a very important change as, for the first time, it allows patients receiving compulsory medication to remain at home living their lives.
Ms Muscat said: “I agree that ideally hospitalisation is avoided. If you stay there for a long time you lose a lot of skills. Many get used to living there and doing nothing.”
Ms Gauci said the new law obliges the treatment team to have a detailed, written care plan for each patient and safeguards patients against abuse.
Ms Gauci welcomed the government’s revision of the Schedule V drugs given for free. Previously when it came to mental health, only patients suffering from schizophrenia were entitled to free medication. This has now been extended to other chronic illnesses.
“But there is still no legislation and no national strategy for mental health... If you were to ask any politician what the strategy is, they don’t have one,” Ms Gauci said.
A spokesman for the Secretariat for Community Care said the law had been presented in Parliament in July last year.
The Mental Health Commissioner (designate) then revised the draft taking into account feedback received by stakeholders during a conference.
“The revised draft act was submitted for approval within the ministry in December 2011 and... the relevant Cabinet memo was signed off last week. The next phase is the publication of the Bill in the Government Gazette and the commencement of the parliamentary approval process”.
The diary of events
April 2007: The consultation period for the draft law ends.
February 2009: Government promises to present Bill in Parliament by end of year.
July 2010: The law is stuck at the Attorney General’s office over problems regarding guardianship.
October 2010: Prime Minister is presented with a petition signed by over 3,000 people asking for law to be enacted.
July 2011: Government says law to be enacted by end of year. Public seminar held for stakeholder feedback.
July 2011: First reading of the new Mental Health Act in Parliament.
October 2011: Mental health commissioner (designate) appointed.
December 2011: Draft act submitted for approval within Health Ministry.
Feb 2012: Government says next phase is publication of the Bill in the Government Gazette and the commencement of the parliamentary approval process. No deadline given.