Haryana introduces regulatory framework for mental health establishments

Chandigarh: The Haryana government has introduced a six-category regulatory framework for mental health establishments, setting standards for registration, staffing, patient safety, and treatment records.

These include standalone mental health establishments, psychiatric departments of medical colleges, psychiatric wards of multi-speciality hospitals, de-addiction centres, centres for psychosocial rehabilitation and other institutions. 

The regulations bring their registration, staffing, patient safety, treatment records, and institutional accountability under prescribed standards, officials said on Wednesday.

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Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Sumita Misra, said on Wednesday that the Mental Healthcare (State Mental Health Authority) Regulations, 2026, notified by the state Health Department on October 9 under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, establish a framework for regulating mental healthcare institutions across the state, news agency PTI reported. 

The regulations prescribe a Rs 25,000 fee for permanent registration, require documentary evidence of compliance with minimum standards, and introduce provisions on professional qualifications, patients' rights, medical records, physical restraint, privacy, hygiene, fire safety, and accessibility.

Misra said the regulations classify mental health establishments into six categories, A to F, based on their nature and services. Institutions must follow the applicable registration process under Section 65 of the Mental Healthcare Act.

The framework extends beyond conventional mental hospitals and de-addiction centres to psychiatric departments in medical colleges, psychiatric units in general hospitals, residential rehabilitation facilities and specified institutions providing treatment for substance use disorders, she said in an official statement.

The regulations prescribe minimum standards for accommodation, sanitation, medical equipment, staffing, and emergency preparedness. They include provisions for adequate ventilation, separate beds, clean bedding, water supply, sanitation facilities for male and female patients, power backup, and safe biomedical waste disposal.

The standards prohibit residents from sleeping on the floor and require institutions to maintain arrangements for privacy, personal dignity, and safety.

A significant provision concerns the use of physical restraint on patients undergoing mental healthcare. The regulations require institutions to minimise restraint, train staff in alternative crisis management methods, and document when physical restraint is necessary.

In inpatient facilities, restraint is permitted only to prevent patients from harming themselves or others, with authorisation from the medical practitioner on duty or consultant psychiatrist.

Institutions subject to the reporting requirement must submit monthly restraint reports to their respective District Mental Health Review Board within the first week of the following month.

The regulations also address patient confidentiality, protection against discrimination, gender-sensitive treatment, access to medical records and procedures for registering advance directives concerning future mental healthcare.

Standalone de-addiction centres classified under Category D are required to register all patients on the Haryana De-addiction Monitoring System Portal. Specified Category F institutions providing emergency treatment for substance use disorders must ensure psychiatric supervision and upload patient information to the same portal, reports PTI.

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