People who have either been drunk or on drugs have been admitted to the mental health hospital Mount Carmel under the pretence that they were not in control of their mental faculties, a doctor speaking to the Malta Independent said.

The doctor said that strictly speaking admissions due to intoxication are legal seeing that the patients will not be in control of their mental faculties, but it is a “highly abusive” way of the police dealing with certain cases.

“The rules to safeguard a patient’s right on admission to Mount Carmel are not clear-cut. In England there are strict rules and it is very hard to send someone to a mental health hospital abusively.”

“It is a known fact in medical circles that the Maltese police overuse the system in Malta. It is an easy route for them to solve problems, by going to a polyclinic and finding a doctor willing to sign the admission papers.”

A person can either be admitted to Mount Carmel voluntarily or involuntarily.

The Mental Health Act states that “In case of emergency, when there is a serious likelihood of immediate physical harm to the person or to third parties, an initial single medical assessment shall suffice for the purpose of application for involuntary admission for observation. The second medical assessment by a specialist in mental health shall be carried out within twenty-four hours of admission to the licensed facility.”

The doctor said that the case of the sole protester outside Castille being sent to Mount Carmel was abusive as the Police appeared to have “shopped around” for a doctor willing to sign the admission papers.

“As reported by The Malta Independent, if the police went to the first doctor at the Floriana polyclinic and he refused to admit the man to Mount Carmel, by then taking the man to Mater Dei it means that the Police shopped around for a different doctor willing to commit the man.”

“This is a clear abuse of power. They should never have shopped around and the decision of the first doctor should have been respected. The decision to discharge the man immediately after he was seen by a doctor at Mount Carmel after his overnight stay was the correct one,” the doctor said.

Questions were sent to the health secretariat asking what safeguards are in place to prevent abusive admissions to Mount Carmel. This newsroom also asked if the police are allowed to ‘shop around’ for a doctor willing to sign admission forms to Mount Carmel. No reply was forthcoming.