The Mental Health Care Act has been promulgated by President Thabo Mbeki and comes into effect immediately, the Department of Health said on Friday.
The new Act replaces the Mental Health Act of 1973, the department said in a statement.
The measure seeks to realign mental health-care service with the National Health Care Act by emphasising the protection of patients’ rights, equity, affordability and access to quality health care.
The new Act establishes, among other things, provincial review boards, which will be tasked with systematically reviewing practices for the benefit of mental health patients.
It further prescribes the use of primary health care as the first point of admission and examination for mental patients before referrals to secondary or mental institutions.
Although the Act reserves the right to involuntary hospitalisation as part of the mental health service, it also introduces strict admission and reviewing processes and procedures before psychiatric referrals. — Sapa