NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 9 – The Mental Health Amendment Bill 2020 now awaits President Uhuru Kenyatta’s assent to become law after it was passed by Senate on Wednesday.
The Bill which was sponsored by Nominated Senator Sylvia Kasanga was unanimously passed by senators after successfully going through the parliamentary process for more than 4 years.
“The Mental Health Bill which I sponsored just passed at the Senate,” an elated Kasanga tweeted.
It seeks to introduce a framework proposal for a holistic approach to mental health, tackling mental illness prevention and reducing the impact of mental illness.
The Bill further seeks to facilitate recovery and reinsertion as well as safeguarding the rights of people suffering from mental illness.
It also proposes that the National Government should provide the necessary resources for the treatment of health care in national hospitals, coordinate the development of structured systematic procedures and infrastructures tailored to mental health issues, including family-based support systems, rehabilitation programmes, and rights safeguarding.
At the County level, the amendment bill proposes similar measures to be designed and implemented in a county-specific way to complement the government’s obligations, in a bid to offer comprehensive and systematic support and prevention.
The Bill aims to further strengthen the rights of persons with mental illness, protecting their rights as part of a community, but also their rights to receive mental health services at their full potential, which includes considerations about the right to participate in the design of the treatment, and the right to access medical insurance.
Further amendments are also proposed in the bills, to protect the rights and increase the quality of treatment, for instance through judicial power measures.
Kenya has been reporting increased cases of mental health which were further amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effects.
In July 2020, the national taskforce on Mental Health led by Dr Frank Njenga recommended that mental health be declared a national disaster in the country pointing out that mental health issues were deep-rooted, and it was high it was given the attention it deserves.
The task force further recommended that an independent mental health commission be formed to monitor people’s happiness levels and provide a report annually.
“We are recommending an equally decisive declaration by our government that recognizes that too many people are dying either by suicide or by the root of gender-based violence and we suggest that such a move will and can save lives,” Njenga said.
The Njenga-led taskforce also recommended that mental health services be well funded by the government in order to encourage many people to open up and share their problems without fear of how much it will cost them to treat the disorders.
President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the formation of the taskforce amid rising depression and mental sickness which led to high cases of murder and suicide.
Depression is the most common mental illness worldwide.
The World Health Organization’s 2014 report ranked Kenya at position four in Africa with 1.9 million people who have the condition.
According to the Kenya Mental Health Policy (2015-2030), 20-25 per cent of outpatients seeking primary healthcare presented symptoms of mental illness.
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