A PIL has been filed seeking a direction to the Central government to include severe mental illness in the list of specific co-morbidities allowed for the Covid-19 vaccination.
The petition has been filed by Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal alleging that apart from the fact that persons with severe mental illness are not covered under the said list, the Central government has also capped the benefit of Covid-19 vaccination only to those persons with disabilities having high support needs.
The petition stated, “That as per Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, Person with disabilities having HIGH SUPPORT NEEDS are only those persons who carry DISABILITY CERTIFICATE with them.”
The petitioner further submitted that as per the Section 21 (1) (e) of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 any other service provided to persons with physical illness shall be provided in the same manner, extent and quality to persons with mental illness.
It is alleged that by capping the benefit of vaccination to persons with mental illness having disability certificate only, the Centre has not only excluded a very vulnerable and neglected group of the country but has also created a barrier in providing benefit of Covid-19 vaccination to persons with mental illness not having disability certificate.
The petitioner has also sought direction to remove the condition of submitting disability certificates by beneficiaries for getting Covid-19 vaccination and framing of policy to provide Covid-19 vaccinations to homeless mentally ill persons wandering on the streets.
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Read the writ petition here: