Cap. 525 Art. 6Functions of the Commissioner.

(1) The Commissioner shall:

(a) promote and safeguard the rights of persons suffering from a mental disorder and their carers;

(b) review any policies and make such recommendations to any competent authority to safeguard or to enhance the rights of such persons and to facilitate their social inclusion and wellbeing;

(c) review, grant and extend any Order issued in terms of this Act and for this purpose it shall be the duty of any person to appear before the Commissioner when so requested;

(d) ensure that patients are not held in the licensed facility for longer than is necessary;

(e) monitor any person duly certified as lacking mental capacity and is under curatorship or tutorship;

(f) authorise or prohibit special treatments, clinical trials or other medical or scientific research on persons under the provisions of this Act;

(g) review all patient incident reports and death records received from licensed mental health facilities;

(h) ensure that guidelines and protocols for minimising restrictive care are established;

(i) investigate any complaint alleging breach of patient’s rights and take any subsequent action or make recommendations which may be required to protect the welfare of that person;

(j) investigate any complaint about any aspect of care and treatment provided by a licensed facility or a healthcare professional and take any decisions or make any recommendations that are required;

(k) conduct regular inspections, at least annually, of all licensed facilities to ascertain that the rights of patients and all the provisions of this Act are being upheld. During such visits he shall have unrestricted access to all parts of the licensed facility and patient medical records as well as the right to interview any patient in such facility in private;

(l) report any case amounting to a breach of human rights within a licensed facility to the appropriate competent authority recommending the rectification of such a for contravening any provision of this Act and this without prejudice to any other proportional action that he may deem necessary to take;

(n) present to the Minister an annual report of his activity which shall be placed on the Table of the House of Representatives by the Minister and shall be discussed in the Permanent Committee for Social Affairs within two months of receipt; and

(o) any other function which the Minister may prescribe by regulations under this Act.

(2) The Commissioner may delegate any of his functions to any officer of his office or to any other person appointed to assist the Commissioner in the execution of his functions.