Up to Dhs200,000 fine, jail for neglecting people with mental illness

Salam Abu Shehab, Staff Reporter

The Federal National Council (FNC), presided by Saqr Ghabash approved during its thirteenth session on Tuesday, approved a federal law on treatment of people with mental illness.

The law provides the patient with many rights, including “No restrictions on his employment as a result of his psychological disturbance, or termination, but only upon a report by a competent medical committee.”

According to new law in case the patient sustains a serious injury as a result of the bad treatment, the person causing this will be punished with imprisonment for at least 1 year and a fine of at least Dhs100,000 and not more than Dhs200,000 or one of these.

The person guarding, caring or nursing a patient is punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding 1 year and a fine of at least Dhs50,000 and not more than Dhs100,000 or one of these, in case of abusing, negligence or ill-treatment of the patient.

According to the law, the person who deliberately forges a medical report to falsely send a person to a psycho establishment is punished with imprisonment and fine, less than Dhs50,000 and no more than Dhs200,000.

Also, the person who helps a patient to escape is punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 months and a fine of Dhs50,000 and does not exceed Dhs100,000, or one of these.

The penalty is doubled in case of repetition.

The law aims to organise the relationship between the psychiatric patient and all the other parties.

It also aims to protect and preserve the rights and dignity of the psychiatric patient, reduce the negative effects of psychological disorders on the lives of members of the family and society and promote the integration of psychiatric patient in society.

This law is published in the Official Gazette and comes into effect after six months of the date of publication.