PART VIII
TREATMENT AND TRAINING W ITHOUT C ERTIFICATION OF INTELLECTUALLY HANDICAPPED P ATIENTS WITH BEHAVIOURAL P ROBLEMS
60 Places that may receive intellectually handicapped patients for treatment or training
(1) The Minister may authorize any hospital, nursing-home or other place to receive patients in terms of this
Part for treatment and training without a reception order.
(2) An authority in terms of subsection (1) may be absolute or subject to such conditions as the Minister
thinks fit.
(3) The Minister may at any time revoke an authority in terms of subsection (1) or amend any of the
conditions subject to which it was given:
Provided that before doing so the Minister shall afford the person in charge of the hospital, nursing-home or
place concerned an opportunity to make representations in the matter, unless the revocation or amendment was
made at his request.
61 Reception of intellectually handicapped patients for treatment or training
(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act but subject to this Part, the superintendent of an
institution or of a hospital, nursing-home or other place that has been authorized in terms of section sixty may,
without a reception order, receive, accommodate and treat and additionally, or alternatively, train a person who—
(a) is intellectually handicapped with behavioural problems; and
(b) is likely to benefit from such treatment or training but, on account of his intellectual handicap, is unfit to
be received and treated as an informal patient under Part VI.
(2) An application for the reception of a patient in terms of subsection (1) shall be made in the prescribed
form to the superintendent of the institution or other place concerned by—
(i) the patient’s guardian, where the patient is a minor; or
(ii) the patient’s spouse; or
(iii) a close relative of the patient, if the patient is unmarried or is married but his spouse is not available:
Provided that, if the superintendent is satisfied that the patient’s guardian, spouse or close relative, as the case
may be, is not available, he may accept an application made by a medical practitioner, a clinical psychologist, a
social worker employed by the State or a local authority or a nurse registered under the Health Professions Act
[Chapter 27:19] or by a member of any other class of persons that may be prescribed.
[Subsection amended by Act 6/2000 with effect from the 2nd April, 2001.]
(3) An application in terms of subsection (2) shall be accompanied by a medical recommendation in the
prescribed form which—
(a) is signed by a medical practitioner who, if practicable, shall be the patient’s usual medical attendant, or
by a psychiatric nurse practitioner:
Provided that the medical recommendation shall not be signed by a person who is prohibited by
section twenty-one from signing a medical certificate; and
(b) states—
(i) the qualifications of the medical practitioner or psychiatric nurse practitioner who has signed it;
and
(ii) that the medical practitioner or psychiatric nurse practitioner who has signed it is not prohibited
from doing so; and
(iii) the date or dates on which the medical practitioner or psychiatric nurse practitioner who has
signed it examined the patient; and
(iv) that the patient is likely to benefit by being received, accommodated, treated and additionally, or
alternatively, trained in terms of this Part.
(4) A medical recommendation shall cease to have effect for the purposes of subsection (3)—
(a) five days after it was signed; or
(b) fourteen days after the person who signed it last examined the patient for the purpose of making the
recommendation;
whichever occurs earlier.
(5) Where a magistrate is satisfied that reasonable force will be needed to secure the removal of a patient to
an institution or other place for treatment or training in terms of this section, the magistrate may, on the
application of the person who applied for the patient’s reception in terms of subsection (2), issue an order
authorizing the use of reasonable force, including the forcible entry of premises, for the purpose.
62 Preliminary report on intellectually handicapped patients
Within seventy-two hours after the reception of a patient in terms of section sixty-one, the superintendent of
the institution or other place in which the patient is detained, or the medical practitioner treating the patient
therein, shall prepare a written report on the patient’s mental state and, if he is satisfied that the patient is not
intellectually handicapped with behavioural problems, shall discharge the patient forthwith.
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