The Hindu : Mentally ill persons to be given ID cards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Mentally ill persons to be given ID cards

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE April 27. The State Government, after delaying the issue for sometime, has woken up to the needs of the mentally ill persons.

Medical boards have been constituted in all district hospitals in the State to issue medical certificates to those with mental illness, after determining the extent of their illness.

The Office of Commissioner for Disabilities has informed that the medical boards will be chaired by the District Surgeon and will include Superintendent, head of a medical institution, a psychiatrist, and a physician as members of the board.

Mental illness is one of the disabilities recognised under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.

Those disabled persons, who wish to avail of benefits under the Act or any other scheme, are required to have at least 40 per cent of disability.

Since, till recently there was no scale to measure extent of mental illness, those suffering from such ailments were mostly deprived of government aid.

The Indian Psychiatry Society recently formulated the Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale, through which mental illness can be evaluated in terms of percentage.

The medical boards will give the certificate based on evaluation through IDEAS.

Some time late last year, the Government had made known that medical boards would be constituted in the district level to give identity cards to mentally ill patients based on the IDEAS scale.

That has only come to fruition now.

The Government has appealed to all parents of mentally ill persons to approach the medical board in their district and obtain certificates.

The Commissioner for Disabilities issued the order for formation of the boards and this will allow mentally unwell persons to get benefits from the Government, Pradeep Kumar, Assistant Commissioner for Disabilities told The Hindu.

The National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) will also have a medical board, he added.

For details, contact the Office of the Commissioner for Disabilities on ph: 5482639 or 5482641.

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