| Addressing the existing problem of mentally challenged vagrants, who have for several years been allowed to freely roam the streets, is no simple task in light of the existing mental health legislation.Mr Joseph Hamilton, Health Ministry’s Parliamentary SecretaryThis is according to the Health Ministry’s Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Joseph Hamilton, who during an interview, yesterday,Wholesale Jerseys, said that not only is the legislation outdated but it does not offer the Ministry much leverage to effectively tackle the problem.Hamilton’s observation comes a few months after a reportedly mentally-ill male vagrant physically attacked a schoolboy in the vicinity of Parliament Square as he headed to the Brickdam Secondary School.Human Services Minister, Jennifer Webster, commenting on the matter,NFL Jerseys China, had insisted that while her Ministry is responsible for dealing with vulnerable persons it is certainly not mandated to deal with mentally challenged persons.Although acknowledging that mental illness falls under the purview of the Health Ministry, Hamilton said that “the big elephant in the room is legislation.” He explained that the existing Mental Health Legislation currently requires that a relative of a suspected mentally challenged individual appear before a magistrate or judge in a court of law and swear to their mental condition before that individual could be committed to psychiatric care.“This is a legal procedure and so the Ministries of Health and Human Services together can’t go on the road and pick up these people…The police can however intervene if the person is violent.”According to Hamilton not even the Chief Medical Officer,Cheap Jerseys China, who is considered the top most medical professional of the country, has the authority to assemble and commit persons of unsound mind without legal action being taken. Moreover, he emphasised that legislation is a primary problem that must be dealt with urgently.He said that discussions in this regard have been engaged within the Health Ministry which has since made moves, in collaboration with the Human Services Ministry, to create a Task Force to monitor the challenge even as efforts are made to refine the existing legislation. A draft legislation, in this regard, has since been crafted and it is currently at the stage of consultation,Calgary Flames Gear, Hamilton disclosed yesterday.“We are reviewing at the level of the Health Ministry the Mental Health legislation and we hope that in the consultations we will find a way as a nation how we could deal with that specific matter.”“I don’t know of any country that hasn’t had vagrancy…The only place I have travelled to and not found vagrancy is Cuba and perhaps we can learn from them…” said Hamilton yesterday.However, the Parliamentary Secretary is hopeful that a new legislation could incorporate a feature similar to the security sector’s citizens’ arrest policy whereby a citizen could cause a mentally ill vagrant to be taken into custody and dealt with appropriately. This move,Jose Calderon Jersey, he speculated,Deion Jones Falcons Jersey UK, could be engaged if a citizen believes that a mentally ill vagrant is a threat to public safety.“This is my personal opinion it is certainly not a policy of the Ministry and so we might have to wait and discuss and agree to this…we cannot do as much as we want right now because some of the same people who are saying that you should get them (vagrants) off the streets they will end up saying that you are violating the human rights and all of the other fundamental rights of these people based on the present law.”“This is not an easy and simple matter as some people believe and I think unless we as a nation are determined that we want the law to be updated and refined to deal with the present circumstances the problem will continue to exist,” Hamilton stated.In the interim, Hamilton said that the Task Force will seek to pay attention to the exiting situation and will even extend its reach even to those vagrants who are not mentally challenged. In this regard, he said that body will be responsible for rounding up vagrants who will be accommodated in a facility which is being constructed at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice.The facility, which will fall under the purview of the Human Services Ministry, is expected to accommodate in excess of 200 vagrants with the view of having them rehabilitated so that they could be returned to the society. “The issue now is how we separate those who are ‘down on their luck’ and those who are mental health cases among those who will be brought to the facility,” Hamilton mused.Such an undertaking, he said, will require the skills of technical medical persons to advise the operation. |
