Government did not complete at least one third of tasks from National Mental Health Program, expert

The Government did not carry out at least one third of the tasks stipulated in the National Mental Health Program for 2007-2009, Vanu Jereghi, director of the Institute for Human Rights in Moldova (IDOM), has told Info-Prim Neo. Though the law on mental health came into force in April last year, it does not work. The human rights are seriously violated. Three cases have been filed to the European Court of Human Rights, said Jereghi, who is a coordinator of the project “Advocacy for the Observance of Human Rights in Psychiatric Institutions in Moldova” implemented by the IDOM. According to the undertaken tasks, the Government was to make a general review of the psychiatric system, make it compliant with the European standards, build mental health rehabilitation centers, etc. “There was built none of the planned mental health centers and the patients that committed crimes are imprisoned for life. They can be set free only under a court decision that is not issued anymore,” Vanu Jereghi said. He also said that the personnel of the existing centers include doctors that simultaneously work at psychiatric hospitals and the attitude towards patients is the same. “These are not mental health rehabilitation centers, but smaller units of the psychiatric hospitals.” Changes were made only in the penitentiary system and the police, where new rules were introduced, the IDOM director said. According to him, the Institute for Human Rights in Moldova was ready to provide support to the Government in solving problems encountered in the mental health sector and formulated a strategic plan of action. But the executive rejected it. The official results of the project “Advocacy for the Observance of Human Rights in Psychiatric Institutions in Moldova” will be announced in September. When Info-Prim Neo inquired about this subject, the Ministry of Health said that a community mental health center was opened in 2007 at the Ungheni District Hospital. There are three centers of the kind in Moldova. They provide psychosocial medical assistance according to individual rehabilitation programs. The services are offered by a multidisciplinary team that is composed of a psychiatrist, psychologist, psychotherapist, ergotherapist, social assistant and jurist. 4,499 persons benefited from the services of the community mental health centers in 2008, the Ministry of Health said. The institution also said that the community mental health centers are founded under the aegis of the Ministry with support from the local public administrations and foreign partners. The centers are financed from the obligatory health insurance budget. No payment is levied from the patients. Moldova has three psychiatric hospitals, four psycho-neurological homes for adults and two such homes for children. About 5,000 persons are treated there.