Annual Report 2012-2013 with the provisions of the Mental Health Act, 1987 and the UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Healthcare. • Incidence of deaths of mentally ill patients has come down. • Diagnostic and therapeutic facilities have been upgraded and their impact is visible in the rate and recovery of patients. • The three hospitals are also engaged in expanding mental health services at the community level. • A special drive has been initiated to restore a number of cured patients to their respective families, who had earlier been reluctant to take them back. • A prominent feature has been the establishment of Half-way Homes for the cured patients before they are finally discharged. • An expert group was constituted to deal with the rehabilitation of the cured patients who were either destitute or had been abandoned by their families. • For rehabilitation of long-staying patients, Project-Maitri was launched by Action Aid, India with financial support from NHRC. As per the project, sensitization workshops for attendants and nursing staff of the three hospitals were organized. 5.21 Despite the progress made in the three mental hospitals, there are still areas of concern, which need to be addressed, especially with regard to their physical infrastructure, human resource and management, and financial resources. Apart from the three mental hospitals in Agra, Gwalior and Ranchi, as mentioned earlier, the Commission is monitoring other mental hospitals also. Many of these mental health hospitals are housed in old dilapidated buildings of the colonial era. Their problems and constraints have not been addressed because of limited resources in terms of human, material and financial. 5.22 In view of the existing pervasive deficiencies, the Commission vide its letter dated 13 May 2010 addressed to the Secretary General, Supreme Court of India submitted an extensive report and requested that the same be placed before the Apex Court for appropriate directions and orders. Later, a reminder dated 7 March 2011 was issued in response to which the Assistant Registrar, PIL (Writ) informed vide letter dated 17 March 2011 that the Hon'ble Court while disposing of the Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 1900/1981(Dr. Upendra Baxi), observed that "if and when the Commission requires any help or assistance from the Court, it is at liberty to make an appropriate application". The said letter further stated that "you are therefore requested to file an appropriate application before this Hon'ble Court for the required directions, if any". 70 NHRC