The Public Health Ministry has put together a campaign aimed at providing official medical help and rehabilitate mental patients who've been kept in chains and restraints across Thailand.

Families of mental patients say they keep them chained up to prevent the patients from hurting others and themselves.

According to the Department of Mental Health's survey, conducted 4 years ago, less than one percent or 400,000 Thais aged between 15-59 years are suffering from various type of psychotic disorders. The most common type of mental illness suffered by 70 percent of Thais with a mental disorder is Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia patients often require long-term treatment, while nearly 40 percent of the patients will never recover fully from the disorder. These patients will require to take medications for at least 2 - 5 years. If the condition returns for the third time, the patient will require to be medicated for life.

In the majority of cases, patients would discontinue to take the medications since they believe they are not ill.

The Public Health Ministry admitted there are a large number of mental patients who do not have access to proper medical help. They are often kept in chains or other type of restraints by their relatives. No official number of these patients have been released but the ministry estimates there could be as many as 1,000 patients who are being chained up.

The ministry say families of mental patients who have not been able to seek proper medical attention for them restrain the patients to prevent them from hurting themselves, destroying private and public property or hurting others.

Under the ministry's new campaign, to be launched on March 1, 2012, proper medical help will be provided to these patients. It hopes to be able to treat and rehabilitate all of the patients by the end of 2012. At the cost of Bt20,000/patient, the ministry forecast it'll need a budget of approximately 15 million baht.

Psychiatric illness is already currently being covered by the state sponsored free universal health care program.

The Department of Mental Health hopes to carry out the campaign in three phases:

First Phase (March, 2012): Locate patients who are being kept in chains/restraints
Second Phrase (April-June): Provide treatment
Third Phrase: Rehabilitate patients, educate community about mental disorders to prevent patients from being kept in restraints in the future.