The draft mental heath law, if approved by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Friday, will mark a substantive step forward in protecting the rights and interests of people with mental health problems.

The incorporation of the patient's own voluntary consent as a premise of hospitalization, as stipulated in the draft under its third NPC reading, plugs a disturbing hole in the current legislation.

The lack of due procedure in the application of forced hospitalization has resulted in such abnormalities as perfectly healthy people being sent to hospital by family members coveting their properties, and disobedient citizens being put there by grassroots tyrants who see them as a threat.