8. Care and Treatment on an informal or voluntary basis. Any person who himself seeks or is
brought by a relative or is referred by a medical practitioner or is referred by any authority for
forensic psychiatric assessment, shall be examined by a psychiatrist or a medical officer nominated by
him who shall record his findings in writing and decide that the patient be treated on an out‑patient
basis or otherwise. Any such person on withdrawal of his consent may be discharged in accordance
with the provisions of this Ordinance.
9. Duration for periods of detention for assessment, treatment, urgent admission and
emergency holding. For the purposes of this Ordinance, there at a four types of detention of a
patient, namely; (1) admission for assessment, (2) admission for treatment, (3) urgent admission, and
(4) emergency holding. The duration for each type of detention shall be as follows:__
(a) The period of detention for the purposes of assessment shall be up to 28 days from the
date of application made under section 10;
(b) The period of detention for the purposes of treatment shall be up to six months from the
date of application made under section 11, and is renewable under the provisions of the
said section;
(c) The period of detention for the purposes of urgent admission shall be up to 72 hours from
the time of application made under section 12; and
(d) The period of detention in the case of a patient for the purposes of emergency holding
already in hospital, shall be up to 24 hours from the time of application made under
section 13.
10. Admission for assessment.__ (1) A patient may be admitted to a Psychiatric Facility and
detained there for the period allowed by subsection (4) in pursuance of an application made in
accordance with subsections (2) and (3).
(2) An application for admission for assessment may be made in respect of a patient on the
grounds that__
(a) he is suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree which warrants the detention of
the patient in a psychiatric facility for assessment (or for assessment followed by initial
treatment) for at least a limited period; and
(b) he ought to be so detained in the interests of his own health or safety or with a view to the
protection of other persons; and
(c) specifying that care and treatment in the community and on an informal and voluntary
basis is not possible.
(3) An application for admission for assessment shall be founded on the written recommendations
in the prescribed form of two medical practitioners, one of whom should be a medical officer and one
should be a psychiatrist, or where a psychiatrist is not available, a medical practitioner with
experience in psychiatry, including in each case a statement that in the opinion of such medical
practitioners the conditions set out in subsection (2) above are complied with.
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