site.btaMPs Adopt Amendments to Health Act Related to Rights of Patients with Mental Illnesses

The members of Parliament adopted at first reading on Thursday amendments to the Health Act related to the rights of patients with mental illness. The draft law was submitted by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), GERB-UDF, MRF, BSP and TISP. It was supported by 148 MPs, four voted against, and 23 abstained.

The draft law will create an opportunity to overcome the existing problems in the system of psychiatric care in Bulgaria, to improve the conditions of life and treatment in psychiatric institutions, the quality of the specialized medical care provided, to guarantee the rights of patients and prohibit any form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons with mental disorders during their treatment, as well as practices that may be defined as torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Currently, 2,401 people are waiting for placement in residential care centres, said Stela Nikolova from CC-DB. She pointed out that the places in these centres are 1,928 and all are occupied. She said the temporary commission for the protection of the rights of mentally ill patients had found that 273 people were staying in state psychiatric hospitals without needing treatment. State psychiatric hospitals are used as nursing homes for people who have been abandoned by their relatives or have nowhere else to go, Nikolova added, specifying that the salaries of medical staff in this field are insultingly low, the lack of staff is obvious, and the living conditions are poor.

Denitsa Sacheva (GERB-UDF) said that there will be a seven-day deadline for proposals between the first and second readings and after the election campaign a working group will be assembled to listen again to the opinion of all specialists.