To ensure that people lodged in mental health establishments are fully vaccinated along with being tested for coronavirus at the earliest, on Tuesday the Supreme Court of India directed the Centre towards the same according to a report released by India Today.
When the Maharashtra Government started shifting patients lodged in mental health Institutes to homes for beggars, a serious note was taken on it by a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah who asked the Maharashtra government to discontinue such practices immediately mentioning that it is counterproductive along with running against the provisions of the Mental Health Act.
The bench mentioned in a statement that for ensuring the vaccination of persons who are institutionalized in mental health establishments, a plan should be chalked out for all the States/Union territories along with suitable instructions given by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with the Department of Social Justice immediately.
It also mentioned that in terms of access to medical care and treatment, the onset of COVID-19 has precipitated the hardships faced by the people who are facing mental illness.
To extend cooperation in complying with the directions and said they would ensure before the meeting that the discrepancies in the data, all the States and Union territories have been directed by the bench.
The issue of testing, tracing, and vaccinating those suffering from mental illness as submitted by the petitioner advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal has been agreed upon by the bench.