Illegal tests conducted on 220 mental health patients, NGO

Illegal drug tests were conducted for five months on 220 patients of the National Psychiatry Hospital, according to the NGO Moldova Mea, Info-Prim Neo reports. The NGO's leader Fiodor Ghelici told a news conference on Tuesday that the information came from a woman whose son had been treated at the Psychiatry Hospital for schizophrenia. A subsequent investigation by Moldova Mea confirmed the information. The NGO claims that the tests were commissioned by a Romanian company which paid the hospital $250 for each patient, plus $70 fees for the nurses who were instructed to observe the effects of the administrated drugs. Fiodor Ghelici noted that, while drug tests are allowed by law in Moldova, they can only take place with the written consent of the tested persons or, in the case of people with mental disabilities, of their tutors. Igor Caldare, a Moldova Mea member, speculated that the Romanian company would have spent $4 million if it had conducted the tests legally; instead, it spent only $90,000. Moldova Mea promised to take the collected evidence to the Prosecutor General's Office.