My apologies. As I have indicated, this month marks the signing of the South African Constitution into law on national Human Rights Day. As we celebrate the restoration of dignity and human rights to all citizens in our country, especially the Bill of Rights, we also celebrate a decade of this Mental Health Act of 2002, which is before Parliament today for amendment.
This legislation is regarded generally as world-class. Our government, this Parliament and our people gave effect to the Constitution and closed yet another dark closet in the history of our country. Lest we forget, a history of myths about mental illness resulted in stigmatisation, abuse and neglect and, in many cases, the torture of patients with mental illness.
The Act ushered in a human rights environment for mental health care users as previous abuse of people, merely because they had mental illness, had increased significantly. Furthermore, an indigent mental health care user is entitled to legal aid by the state in respect of submitting an application, lodging an appeal and appearing before a magistrate, judge or review board or any proceedings instituted in terms of this Act.
The Act is also aligned with a number of international and regional human rights treaties to which South Africa is a signatory. The amending Bill has two objectives. The first objective is to provide for the director-general to delegate to other officials some of the functions relating to the decisions of care, treatment and rehabilitation. Currently, over 200 new admissions - 3 000 periodicals - are reported annually. The Act only provides for the director-general to deal with this personally. In delegating this function, we will certainly enhance access and efficiency.
The second objective of the Bill is to repeal the remaining chapter of the Mental Health Act of 1973, thus limiting the regulation of all hospital boards, including mental health hospitals, to being governed by the National Health Act.
While these amendments may seem administrative, once passed into law they will augment the revised policy framework and the strategic plan, both of which aim to improve the quality of mental health services, protect the rights of patients, enhance efficiency in administrative justice, and professionalise the services.
Whilst we have made significant progress, it is of concern that 16,5% of adults have experienced a mood anxiety or substance use disorder in the past 12 months. This is according to the South African stress and health survey. Neuropsychiatric disorders ranked third in their contribution to the overall burden of disease. And, of concern is that one in six South Africans were likely to experience a common mental disorder, depression, anxiety or substance abuse disorder, including us in this House, during any year of our lives. A further concern is that the prevalence will continue to grow if we do not deal decisively with the socioeconomic contributions.
More public campaigns are needed to raise awareness about mental health and mental health services, as research indicates that 75% of those that require these services do not even know how to access them and where to access them. They come at the tail end when there are already complications.
As we introduce national health insurance and re-engineer primary health care services, we believe that the integrated school health programme, the work-based outreach health teams, the district specialist teams and the recruitment of general practitioners to clinics will go a long way in identifying the risk factors and symptoms, in order to ensure prevention and early access to the continuum of care for those who need mental health services.
We thank the chairperson and members of the portfolio committee for processing this Bill before this House. We ask the House to endorse this Bill so that it will be presented for a second reading. I thank you. [Applause.]