Egypt’s parliament has adopted a law to protect mental health rights, thanks to vigorous advocacy by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an Open Society Institute grantee.
The new law represents a milestone in the protection of the rights of persons with mental disorders, but can only succeed through further steps by the government to ensure its effective implementation as part of a comprehensive policy of rights-based reforms to Egypt’s mental health sector.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights was influential in drafting this legislation, having provided research and advice to the Ministry of Health since 2006. This included a study of the law’s implications, entitled Egypt’s New Mental Health Bill: a First Step on the Right Path, released in January 2009. The initiative was particularly active in increasing safeguards on involuntary admission to mental health facilities.
The new law passed after six months of parliamentary debate. It includes a bill of rights for patients inside mental health facilities, which must be presented to all patients and care providers. The law defines the situations in which persons with mental disorders may be involuntarily admitted to mental health facilities, in accordance with internationally accepted professional standards. It also upholds the patient’s right to informed consent to treatment, requiring doctors to document and periodically review treatment plans. The law creates a patients’ rights committee in every facility and explicitly stipulates the participation of civil society organizations in these committees. Outside hospitals, it prohibits solitary confinement or physical restrictions on patients except in exceptional cases.