The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to submit the details of suicide death cases at the three mental health centres (MHCs) in the state during the last five years.
Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan passed the order while considering a petition filed by P D Joseph of Thrissur seeking a directive to investigate the reasons behind the suicide of patients at the mental health centres and direct the Chief Secretary to furnish the details of such incidents.
The petitioner submitted that the medical reports on the postmortem examination of the controversial death of Bihari youth Satnam Singh and the report on suicide deaths of 27 inpatients at the West Fort Health Centre, Thrissur, should be examined by the court.
He also sought a directive to the Health Secretary to take necessary steps to search all mental health centres and fix cameras to monitor their functioning. He further sought immediate action against those doctors who admit normal patients and issue mental illness certificates for the selfish motives of their relatives. Almost all MHCs are functioning without proper equipment and medicine, the petition said.
The bench which is considering the mental health cases directed the government pleader to submit the details before October 31. The court also asked the state to furnish the details of the statistics of deaths occurred in mental health centres.