Mentally ill patients in China have few human rights.Chinese psychiatric patients are routinely subjected to abuse within a system that vaguely defines their rights.
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China has a practice of locking mentally-ill patients in hospitals against their will. The 2013 Mental Health Code prevented the hospitalization of patients without their informed consent, but this law took 27 years to enact. The Chinese Ministry of Health has taken steps to prioritize mental health, but cultural factors, ignorance of psychiatric disease and stigma impede progress. The 686 Tripartite partnership further outlines steps towards ethical treatment, but there is still much room for progress.
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Obtaining psychiatric careChina has 1 psychiatrist for every 83,000 people, roughly 10% that of Western countries. This means that the 100 million patients who suffer from a mental disorder are unable to receive help. Those that do often receive unprofessional advice or false diagnoses and do not return for follow-up treatment.
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Ankang hospitalsAnkang hospitals, high-security psychiatric hospitals directly administered by the government's healthcare sector, are reported to medicate patients against their will and subject them to foot beatings and electric shocks. Family visits are forbidden, and abuse cases are carefully concealed from the public. Patients are subjected to injections of drugs that damage the nervous system and are systematically force fed and tortured.
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Patients placed in ankang hospitals are deemed political dissenters or those who disrupt social stability. Practitioners of CCP-antagonizing policies will be placed in ankang hospitals even if they are not considered mentally ill.
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Above are two images of an 11-year old schizophrenic boy. He is taken care of by his physically disabled grandfather, who has chained his ankle to the wall. This is to prevent the boy from attacking others, a common symptom of schizophrenia.
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Patients living in poorer, isolated rural areas have little access to professional psychiatric care. They have the advice of barefoot doctors, which is often laced with folk beliefs. Families wanting to isolate their mentally ill relatives may resort to locking them in cages or chaining them to prevent them from injuring others or causing a disturbance. Oftentimes families are left without any solutions for care.
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Image of a schizophrenic man locked in a cage after he killed a village member.
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