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ACT IX OF 2019 ACT IX OF 2019 BALOCHISTAN MENTAL HEALTH ACT, 2019 An Act to consolidate, alter and amend the law relating to the mentally disordered persons in Balochistan, with respect to their care, treatment and management of their property and other related matters [Gazette of Balochistan Extraordinary, 25th October, 2019] No. PAB/Legis; V (04)/2019, dated 25.10.2019.---The Balochistan Mental Bill No. 04 of 2019 having been passed by the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan on 12th October, 2019 and assented to by the Governor Balochistan, on 24th October, 2019 is hereby published as an Act of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly. Preamble.---WHEREAS, it is expedient to consolidate, alter and amend the law relating to the treatment and care of mentally disordered persons in Balochistan, to make better provisions for their care, treatment, management of properties and affairs and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto and to encourage community care of such mentally disordered persons and further to provide for the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental disorder; AND WHEREAS in pursuance of the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the subject matter has been devolved to the provinces, therefore; It is hereby enacted as follows:- CHAPTER - III ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT 18. Rectification of applications and recommendation.---(1) If within the period of 14 days beginning with the day on which application was made in respect of the patient to be admitted to a psychiatric facility for assessment or for treatment the application or any medical recommendation given for the purposes of the application is found to in any respect incorrect or defective, the recommendation or application may, within that period and with the consent of the management of the psychiatric facility, be amended by the person by whom it was signed; and upon such amendment being made the application or recommendation shall have effect and shall be deemed to have had effect as if it had been originally made as so amended. (2) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, if within the period mentioned in that subsection it appears to the management of the psychiatric facility that one of the two medical recommendations on which the application for admission of a patient is founded is insufficient to warrant the detention of the patient in pursuance of the application, they may, within that period, give notice in writing to that effect to the applicant; and where any such notice is given in respect of a medical recommendation, that recommendation shall be disregarded, but the application shall be, deemed always to have been, sufficient if - (a) a fresh recommendation complying with the relevant provisions of this Act (other than the provisions relating to the time of signature and the interval between examinations) is furnished to the hospital management within the period; and (b) the fresh recommendation, and the other recommendation given earlier on which the application is founded, together comply with those provisions. (3) Where the medical recommendations upon which an application for admission is founded are taken together insufficient to warrant the detention of the patient in pursuance of the application notice under subsection (2) above may be given in respect of either of those recommendations; but this subsection shall not apply in a case where the application is of no effect by virtue of clause (e) of subsection (1) of section 17 above. (4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing the giving of notice in respect of an application made as an emergency application, or the detention of a patient admitted in pursuance of such an application after the period of 72 hours referred to in clause (iii) of section 12 above unless the conditions set out in clauses (a) and (b) of that section are complied with or would be complied with apart from any error or defect to which this applies.