Mental Health Act soon

Barbados will in the next six months have a new Mental Health Act, which will take into account recent developments in mental health care.
This news came from Minister of Health Donville Inniss, who said the many changes in mental health care since the last act of 1985 – including enshrining the rights of people with mental illnesses as well as new services and new categories of workers – needed to be covered by modern legislation.
Inniss was speaking at National Strategic Mental Health Plan consultation and workshop at the Island Inn Hotel yesterday where he said because of the necessity of a national strategic plan for mental health care services, appropriate legislation was required for the implementation of the modernization process.
He disclosed that a proposal was submitted to Cabinet and last December it was agreed that there would be a new Mental Health Act within the next six months. (LK)