After her family announced … Is it right to force Sherine Abdel Wahab to enter a clinic?

23:52

Monday 17 October 2022

Books – Ahmed Gomaa:

The prosecutor has announced that it is investigating the complaint filed by the singer’s lawyer, Sherine Abdel Wahab, in which he claims that her brother “attacked” her and that she was “forcibly” admitted to a mental health hospital.

Sherine Abdel Wahab’s brother and her mother said in a televised intervention, with the media Amr Adib on the “Al-Hekaya” program, that “he admitted his sister to the hospital to be treated for drug abuse and to protect her from her ex-hussam Habib. ” The hospital filed a report stating that she is “sick and in need of treatment”.

This announcement raised many questions about the legality of forcing a psychiatric patient to be hospitalized and their rights during treatment.

For his part, Dr Hisham Ramy, professor of psychiatry at Ain Shams University and former secretary general of the Mental Health Secretariat at the Ministry of Health, said that there is generally a law protecting the mentally ill in Egypt that it was enacted in 2009, and was recently amended in 2021 to add many patient rights. He pointed out that this law governs how a person is admitted to any psychiatric hospital for treatment.

Ramy added, in statements to Masrawy, that “there are clear precautions in the law, the most important of which is that if the patient poses a danger to himself or others, he can be hospitalized against his will, provided that a committee comes from the Ministry of Health, in particular the National Council for Mental Health, to ensure that the person is sick and represents a danger, to protect the patient himself.

He stressed the need to inform the National Mental Health Council of this case within 24 hours of admission to the hospital to ensure correct procedures, diagnosis and treatment.

“Rami” explained that in all these steps the patient is informed and informed of what is being done because this is one of his rights, and if the commission of the Ministry of Health announces that the patient’s condition does not require his forced hospitalization, an order is issued for immediate discharge and referral to the medical facility for investigation.

He continued: “There are legal articles regulating this and clear procedures. There is a specialized mental health council affiliated with the Minister of Health that follows these procedures and their safety of diagnosis and treatment to protect the psychiatric patient, both in public and private hospitals “.

In case of violation of these procedures, “severe penalties” are foreseen, according to the former secretary general of mental health, from a fine to 3 years of imprisonment for hospital officials.