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Proposed changes to Mental Health Regulations approved
The Executive Council has endorsed proposals to amend the Mental Health Regulations to bring them in line with the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, a Government spokesman said today (Wednesday).
The Mental Health (Amendment) Regulation 1996 spells out the precise conditions under which the medical superintendent of a mental hospital may exercise his powers to interfere with or to impose restrictions on the activities of patients and their communications with outsiders.
The existing regulations provide for such powers without specifying the conditions. They may therefore be said to permit arbitrary interference with a patients' privacy and freedom.
"The amendments will remove the arbitrariness and uncertainty implicit in the existing provisions," the spokesman said.
"It will enable a patient or any person intending to communicate with a patient to judge whether his proposed action is likely to be subject to intervention," he added.
The existing Mental Health Regulations empower the medical superintendent to, amongst others, censor letters, postal packets, parcels or other matters addressed to or sent by patients, and to restrict patients' possession or receipt of articles or certain things.
"It is necessary to retain the current statutory powers of a medical superintendent so that they can be invoked if circumstances so warrant," the spokesman explained.
"It may be necessary to interfere with the activities of patients or their communications for the prevention of unnecessary distress to themselves, or for prevention of fictitious or defamatory allegations made by patients who may not fully understand the consequences of their acts," he added.
The Mental Health (Amendment) Regulation will be gazetted this Friday (July 5) and be tabled before the Legislative Council on July 10.
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