title: A review of reception order in the management of mentally ill persons in a psychiatric institute.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mentally ill prisoners, when requiring admission in a psychiatric facility, have to be admitted only by a reception order of a judicial magistrate and convicts by warrants issued by the Government to jail superintendents and the superintendent of the hospital. Both can be only under Section 27 of The Mental Health Act, 1987.
  
  
  METHODS
  A study of the contents of reception order and warrants regarding the acts and section under which they were issued over 1 year period for the admission of the patients in the criminal ward of the Institute of Mental Health was carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only three reception orders quoted Section 27 out of 54 patients admitted under a reception order. Nineteen patients were admitted by the jail superintendents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Various issues that were found in the reception order and their consequences are discussed, and a possible response to these issues is mooted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Almost none of the reception orders were found to be proper. This deficit needs to be rectified by sensitizing the various authorities.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health, Madras Medical College, Kilpauk, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Nakkeerar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Potheri, Kattankulathur, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Rajkumar
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramanathan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health, Madras Medical College, Kilpauk, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Venkatesh Madhan
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health, Madras Medical College, Kilpauk, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Dhanabalan Kalingarayan Palayam
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Chellappan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health, Madras Medical College, Kilpauk, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Jeyaprakash
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ramasamy
keywords: 1987; The Mental Health Act; compulsory admissions; reception order