PHM-Exch> Fwd: Support Egypt and the rights of people with mental health problems

[Caroline Kim]

Dear all:

I have received the following email by Dr. Moody Zaky, a psychiatrist who
works in Egypt for the rights of people with mental health problems.

People with  mental health issues are subject to stigma and discriminatory
treatment all over the world and suffer from a disproportionate deprivation
of rights.  These rights include items such as: the fundamental right to be
free from arbitrary detention, the right to informed consent to treatment,
the right to health services, and the right to humane treatment (including
the ability to make have a voice regarding care and treatment).

It seems that some are taking advantage of the recent changes in Egypt to
"roll back" these rights.

Rather than put words in Dr. Zaky's mouth, I encourage you to please read
his email, below, and provide whatever support you can.

(The attached letter by the EIPR is written in Arabic without translation;
however, there is an English website at www.eipr.org/en)

In solidarity,

Caroline Kim



---------- Forwarded message ----------

-------- Original Message --------  Subject: Support Egypt and the rights of
people with mental health problems  Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:56:21
+0200  From:
Moody Zaky <moodyzaky at me.com> <moodyzaky at me.com>
Dear All,
I hope this find you well. I am writing to you in a watershed moment in the
history of Egypt when the country and its political and constitutional
platform are reshaped again inspired by the 25Th January revolution of the
youth. As the whole country poises to enjoy a new dawn of democracy, freedom
of speech and  respect for the universal human rights of its people, some
still try to go against the new spirit trying to reverse the progress we
already have in the area of Rights of people with mental health problems.
As you all know that we have a new MentalHealth Act passed by the parliament
and came to force in 2009 . During the process of drafting that legislation,
a great deal of resistance came from some  powerful psychiatrists who oppose
fiercely the act for its new themes regarding  psychiatric patients' rights,
independent assessment, criteria for compulsory admissions, Semi-judiciary
body to monitor the implementation of act's provisions , etc......  Head of
psychiatrists association was spree-heading the battle against the new bill
on all platforms using the fact the psychiatrists in Egypt had not been
practically subjected to any kind of independent supervision over the
previous 60 years. But we eventually won the battle and the legislation was
adopted as i mentioned earlier.
And currently, following the chaos  subsequent to incidents that accompanied
the revolution , head of Psychiatrist Association has intensified his effort
to revoke the act and to undermine its enforcement in the country. Sadly,
the new minister of health has taken a position that is hard to understand.
He has assigned the head of the Psychiatric association to supervise a
reform in the area of mental health including to chose a committee on his
own to revisit the executive regulation of the mental health act,
reshuffling the supervisory bodies, to chose who runs the service and the
monitoring bodies. Minister of Health  has ignored  this civil society
request to include all respected parties in the process of revisiting the
act and its executive regulations. You may find a copy attached of  an open
letter from one of most active association in the field of rights of people
with mental health problems which is Egyptian Initiative for personal Rights
asking him to reconsider his respective  decision . Moreover, head of
psychiatrists association in a meeting attended by psychiatrist he pledged
to bring down the law because psychiatrists should not be monitored for such
monitoring undermines the dignity of psychiatrists, according to him. ( link
to video of that meting is
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=63AE6057D76987C9)
We, who advocate for the rights of people with mental health problems, are
trying our best lobby against that move. We are trying to have a meeting
with the prime minister to explain our position in the support of the mental
health Act and the rights of people with mental health problems. We believe
that if we have not fought for that, then rights of people with mental
health problems are really at risk. We would really appreciate your support
to our precious cause . we would be very grateful if you can issue an
official statement from your organization, and/or send letters of support to
our government ( prime minister, minister of health, head of the supreme
military council0. we would kindly ask you also to circulate this letter to
whomever you think can give us a hand of help.
We really appreciate  your help and my best regards.
Appreciatively,
Dr. Moody
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