There is a need for legislative solutions related to the attitude towards mentally ill people, Prof. Kostadin Angelov, chairman of the parliamentary health committee, told journalists. We intend to create a subcommittee for mental health within the committee, the discussion on the topic of mental health must be very extensive, including with the professional community, with which to find the intersection for legislative changes, he also said.
The living conditions in which patients are treated are extremely poor and the solution to this is found in the projects in the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, as well as with a small financial assistance from the state, added Prof. Angelov, quoted by BTA. Earlier during the committee meeting, Health Minister Silvi Kirilov said that renovations are underway in 18 medical institutions with psychiatric wards, worth 17 million leva.
According to Prof. Angelov, the problems in the field of mental health would be solved if the mental health strategy, which was adopted in 2021, is implemented. This strategy requires an extremely large financial resource, but it can be distributed in stages over the years so as not to burden the state's financial system, he suggested.
When asked whether the introduction of clinical pathways in the field of psychiatry is planned, as was announced at the beginning of last year, Prof. Angelov said that in his opinion this would be a mistake, since a significant percentage of patients with mental illnesses are not health insured, which would deprive a large part of them of access to quality medical care and would complicate their treatment. A large part of working psychiatrists, including the Expert Council on Psychiatry, are against the introduction of clinical pathways for this reason, as well as for additional reasons, he also pointed out.
We have a shortage of day hospitals and places where they monitor the effect of the treatment and socialization of patients. In large state psychiatric hospitals last year, there were over 200 patients who live in these medical institutions and cannot socialize. The main problem is the lack of day hospitals and the investment of funds in this type of structures, added Prof. Angelov.