萬國法律事務所

On 13 January 2022, Taiwan's Executive Yuan passed a draft amendment to the Mental Health Act ("Draft").  The Draft was proposed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.  With the approval of the Executive Yuan, the Draft will be sent to the Legislative Yuan for examination.
 
According to the Executive Yuan, this amendment complies with the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) for the protection of human rights and in response to recent calls from various sectors of society to strengthen the social safety net.  According to the Draft, the central government will establish a national mental care command center using the newly established cross-system risk alert platform to dovetail with the local 24-hour emergency disposal mechanism.
 
The Draft includes the following five major points:
 
1. The promotion of mental health;
2. Active deployment of community mental health centers and diversified community support;
3. Improvement of patient assistance and front-end prevention, strengthening the patient notification system, and establishing a crisis management mechanism;
4. Mandatory hospitalization decisions may only be made by court order; and
5. Protection of patients' rights and interests.
 
According to the Draft, mental health promotion and related services will be expanded from "nationals" to all people living in Taiwan (which includes foreign nationals).  The Executive Yuan announced that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been requested to actively communicate and coordinate with all political parties and related groups in the Legislative Yuan to complete the legislative amendment process for the Mental Health Act as soon as possible.