Beijing : China is drafting a law that seeks to protect the rights of its 100 million mentally-disordered people and prevents the forced hospitalisation of healthy people.
There are 16 million people suffering from “severe” mental health problems in China, making psychiatry one of the most costly areas of health care, China Daily quoted Health Minister Chen Zh as saying.
Statistics released by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009 showed 100 million Chinese suffer mental disorders, with at least 56 million mentally ill people across the country unable to get access to proper treatment.
The new bill aims to secure rights of those suffering from mental illness, including their right to education, work and privacy and stop the wrongful rehabilitation of healthy people.
IANS
