Persons with mental disabilities living in Balti will be provided with apartments

Sixteen persons with mental disabilities living in Balti town will receive social apartments, while 80 persons will be cared for at home under a three-year program implemented in Moldova for the first time, Info-Prim Neo reports. The pilot-program is financed by the European Commission and is carried out by the Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP Netherlands) in cooperation with the local partners Somato Association and the Mayor’s Office of Balti. As part of the project, the local authorities will provide four social apartments that will be inhabited by 16 persons with mental disabilities. The apartments will be repaired, while specially trained social assistants will help these persons integrate into the society, said Jana Chihai, the president of Somato Association. The four social apartments will become available in 2010. The Mayor of Balti Vasile Panciuc said that the project will help the persons with mental disabilities and make them hope for a better life. Through this project, the European Commission aims to create a social service that would facilitate the social integration of the persons with mental disabilities and would help them acquire life habits.