{"id":114730,"date":"2026-10-12T13:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/?p=114730"},"modified":"2026-10-12T14:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:38:14","slug":"mental-health-law-will-be-given-priority-minister-mehta-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/en\/2026\/10\/12\/114730\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental health law will be given priority: Minister Mehta"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>KATHMANDU: Minister for Health and Food Hygiene Nisha Mehta has said that the government has given priority to building the necessary legal base to make mental health services systematic, effective and accessible to the citizens. <\/p>\n<p> Speaking at a program on &#8216;Mental Health in Nepal: Status of Implementation of Supreme Court&#8217;s Mandamus and Directive Order&#8217;, Minister Mehta said that the concept paper on mental health has already been approved by the Council of Ministers and the process of formulating the Mental Health Act would be forwarded on the basis of that. She said, &#8220;The government&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>s priority is to create the necessary legal basis to make mental health services systematic and effective. In this context, the concept paper on mental health has been passed by the cabinet. Now, on the basis of this, the work of drafting the Mental Health Act will be started.&#8221; This will create an important foundation for ensuring the rights of the service recipients and providing quality mental health services to the reach of the citizens. She said that mental health should be understood not only as a health issue but also as an important issue related to the individual, family, society and overall life. <\/p>\n<p> He said that although there is a tendency to seek treatment when there is a problem with physical health, many people are still hesitant to speak out and ask for help when they have mental health problems.<\/p>\n<p>She said, &#8220;Mental health is not only a matter of health. It is a matter related to the individual, family, society and the whole life. We feel that when there is a problem with physical health, we seek treatment, but when there is a problem with mental health, many people are still hesitant to speak out openly or ask for help. To change this situation, public awareness, the right information and a supportive social environment are needed.&#8221;To address mental health issues, it is necessary to raise awareness, flow the right information, and create a supportive social environment,&#8221; she said. <\/p>\n<p> She expressed the belief that the proposed legal framework would ensure the rights of the service seekers and prepare the basis for providing quality mental health services to the citizens. Minister Mehta stressed on the need to end the tendency of feeling weak, stigmatizing and discriminating against people suffering from mental health problems. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Mental health issues should be taken as an issue related to public health and a dignified life, not as a personal weakness,&#8221; she said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/arthakhabar. com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/photo-6_962788f2-1024x768. jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/arthakhabar. com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/photo-5_cd798347-1024x768. jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/arthakhabar. com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/photo-4_f286410f-1024x768. jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/arthakhabar. com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/photo-3_a53fbae0-1024x768. jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/arthakhabar. com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/photo-2_9b96db85-1024x768. jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/arthakhabar. com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/photo-1_201f4b46-1024x768. jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/> <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KATHMANDU: Minister for Health and Food Hygiene Nisha Mehta has said that the government has given priority to building the necessary legal base to make mental health services systematic, effective and accessible to the citizens. Speaking at a program on &#8216;Mental Health in Nepal: Status of Implementation of Supreme Court&#8217;s Mandamus and Directive Order&#8217;, Minister<a href=\"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/en\/2026\/10\/12\/114730\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Mental health law will be given priority: Minister Mehta&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":114700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/photo-7_e4e4e7c5.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114731,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114730\/revisions\/114731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/114700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}