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Monitoring of Five Big Psychiatric Hospitals in
Serbia – Results Presented
Photo: Media Center Belgrade
Belgrade, April 24, 2014
Press conference was organized on 24 April 2014 at
the Media Center in Belgrade in order to present results of the
monitoring of five big psychiatric hospitals in Serbia. Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and its partner organization
IAN (International Aid Network) were monitoring special psychiatric
hospitals in Kovin, Vrsac, Novi Knezevac, Gornja Toponica and
Belgrade as a part of the project Civil Society Advocacy for
Efficient Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders. This project
is implemented with the assistance of the Norwegian Embassy in
Belgrade and under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of the
Republic of Serbia, Ombudsman and Provincial Ombudsman.
Speakers at the conference were representatives of
the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Ljiljana Palibrk
and Jelena Mirkov Subic, and representatives of IAN, Marina
Bogdanovic and Tijana Eror. It was stated that treatment at the
psychiatric institutions in Serbia is far from contemporary and
patients are often under strong medication. Therefore, they are not
able to function normally even several days after being given the
pharmacotherapy. It was also stated that many patients stay at these
hospitals for a long period of time, which is contrary to
international practice. More than 50% of patients are placed in
psychiatric institutions because of their social circumstances and
not because of their health. Compared to the remaining four
psychiatric hospitals, Clinic for psychiatric illnesses “Laza
Lazarevic” in Belgrade has the best conditions, but the atmosphere
is not entirely patient-friendly, which does not help the treatment
of patients.
General remark is that a reform of the entire
method of the treatment of psychiatric patients is necessary and
that individual treatment plans should be developed. Moreover, it is
necessary to increase the number of employees in all hospitals and
to encourage continuous education of all the hospital staff that
provides treatment to patients on a daily basis.
Video of the event can be viewed on MC Web
television:
http://www.mc.rs/predstavljanje-rezultata-monitoringa-pet-velikih-psihijatrijskih-bolnica-u-srbiji.4.html?eventId=9359
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