site.btaHealth Ministry Data on Unoccupied Beds at Mental Health Facilities: 358 in Bulgaria, 10 in Sofia

According to data provided by the Health Ministry to BTA, there were 358 unoccupied beds at the country’s 12 state mental health facilities as at February 4. In Sofia, the number stood at 10. The data are very dynamic, the Ministry noted.

State mental health facilities in Bulgaria have 1,922 beds available, as well as 146 beds for daily treatment. Additionally, there are 12 mental health centres in the country with 1,022 beds plus 746 for daily treatment.

Patients spend an average of 40 to 50 days in the mental health facility, but their stay can be longer or shorter, depending on their individual treatment.  

Under the Health Act, persons whose mental disorder makes them a risk to others or themselves must be placed and treated at a mental health facility, the Ministry recalls. The district court is the body competent to order the compulsory treatment based on the patient’s current address or the mental health facility’s location.

Earlier on Tuesday, a 22-year-old woman was arrested after stabbing three men in central Sofia in three separate attacks. The head of the Sofia Directorate of the Interior, Chief Commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov, told the press that the attacker has a diagnosis for a mental disorder.