The patients in the psychiatric institutions in Moldova are beaten by the personnel with cudgels and other objects are and held in cold as the administration of one institution decided to repair the heating system in winter. In all the institutions monitored by the Moldova Institute for Human Rights (IDOM), the people are not provided with elementary hygiene products such as soap, toothpaste and toothbrush, IPN reports.

IDOM executive director Vanu Jereghi told a news conference that there were monitored six psychiatric institutions managed by the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family. These are the psycho-neurological institutions for grownups from Cocieri village of Dubasari district; Badiceni, Soroca; Branzeni, Edinet, and from Balti municipality as well as the boarding schools for girls with mental disabilities from Hancesti town and for boys from Orhei town.

All the institutions experience a shortage of personnel. Two or three nurses are responsible for several dozen beneficiaries, some of whom are immobilized. It was established that the gender separation is not respected. A group of 20-25 men are looked after by women, who cannot control them when they become violent. It’s also not recommended that a woman should help the men to bathe.

The institutions do not have equipment for immobilizing the violent persons. They are tied with towels. The nurses have free access to psychotropic substances at a time when they must be kept in safes, under strict control.

The sanitary facilities are in a deplorable state, full of mold. One institution does not have hot water. The beneficiaries sometimes slip by two on one bed, with one pillow and one blanket. “The level of moisture is high. In one institution, 12 persons got infected with tuberculosis because of moisture. Some of the beneficiaries said they hadn’t been taken out for a walk for over a year,” said Vanu Jereghi.

Though the boarding schools in Orhei and Hancesti are designed for children, half of the beneficiaries there are grownups. Those immobilized were accommodated at upper stories even if there is not enough staff for taking them out for a walk.

The report was presented to the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family.  The Ministry’s administration said they will make effort to remove the shortcomings and to deal with the violations of human rights. The state spends daily by 100-150 lei for maintaining one person in psychiatric institutions.