Mohamed Rashad
The House of Representatives decided to move the discussion of the rest of the articles of the Mental Health Bill to the next session, following voting on a number of its articles during the plenary session that was held yesterday morning, amid numerous interventions by MPs to comment on the articles approved by the House and approved by the majority of members.
A dispute escalated between the deputies over the text of Article 59 and amended by Article 53 following the amendment to punish anyone who detained or caused the detention of a person as suffering from a mental illness in other than mental health facilities, or in other places chosen within the framework of community care, with imprisonment and a fine of no less than A thousand dinars, stressing that the fine imposed is small and insufficient to deter violators of the text of the law, and they considered that doubling the fine to reach regarding 10,000 dinars is the solution.
Representative Mahmoud Al-Bahrani commented: “The prescribed fine of 1,000 dinars does not amount to 25% of the salary of the consultant, and it is an explicit compliment to the doctors, and is not a deterrent punishment, noting that the penalty should be between 5,000 dinars to 10,000 dinars, or The violator is sentenced to one to three years in prison.
For his part, Representative Hamad Al-Kooheji stressed the need to raise the fine, noting that we have previously seen cases of some doctors writing forged documents for the benefit of certain people, with the intent of harming the patient’s interests. The penalties prescribed for this article in the mental health project or in parallel with the Penal Code.
In turn, MP Muhammad Issa said: “The issue is not an auction, every person increases the amount, explaining that the philosophy of punishment is to be a deterrent to violators so that they do not commit this act, stressing that the presence of the imprisonment text in the article is more appropriate than the fine to deter violators.”
While the term “enlightened” in the text of Article 50 of the Mental Health Law sparked a wide disagreement among the deputies regarding its importance and legality, as Representative Youssef Zainal commented, “We all know what free will is,” but what is enlightened will,” while Representative Sawsan Kamal responded as a reporter. The committee said that an enlightened word is to discuss the treatment plan and answer all questions from the patient if he is aware, or from the patient’s family and answer them so that the plan is clear to everyone before he signs the treatment plan so that there is confidence between the two sides in all the items of the plan.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Walid Al-Manea, explained that the term “enlightened plan” is knowledge of the consequences, and it is a common term in draft laws and we have been guided by it to ensure the right of the person or patient to know the consequences of the actions taken, not just the treatment and its benefit for him.
Representative Ali Majed Al-Nuaimi said: “The enlightened word has no legal reference in any article of Bahrain’s laws, calling for it to be deleted wherever it appears in the entire project.
The Minister of the House of Representatives and the Shura Council, Ghanem Al-Buainain, explained that “the word free means that it is from itself. As for the enlightened one, it is the knowledge of the consequences taken. Thus, we have set two conditions that she is free and enlightened at the same time, and that this term has been mentioned in other laws that were presented to the parliament.”
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