The Minister of Health Vladimir Lengvarský together with Minister of Justice Viliam Karas opened the premises of the first detention facility in Slovakia. The facility provides a response to the long-term problem of Slovak justice and health – as a humane and safe approach to mentally ill patients who are dangerous to their surroundings. The detention centre was established in the village of Hronovce in Levice, with the capacity of 75 patients.
Experts agree that in the case of mentally ill patients with at risk behaviour, a medical approach should also be taken into account and a suitable environment for their treatment should be established. It is not enough to isolate them from society. The detention centre will therefore be a unique medical facility, as it will provide dignified care to those patients suffering from mental illness, which poses a risk to society, said Minister of Health Vladimir Lengvarský.
If institutional health care could not be provided in detection, it would make it impossible to treat the facility and would only be to isolate people with mental disorders. Defining the provision of institutional health care to persons placed in detention is a prerequisite for the regular administration of medicines, the continuous provision of further medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (electroconvulsive therapy, fallopletysmography, psychiatric nursing) or adequate management of medical documentation.
The detention centre in Hronovce will employ 90 medical and non-medical staff as well as 79 officers of the Prison and Judicial Guard Corps. Staff will be gradually recruited as necessary to cover the services provided by the Institute. In total, the investment and project costs were quantified at approximately 23 million. The cost of the institution was EUR 1.17 million. EUR.
I'm very glad we could open the Detention Institute in Hronovce today. We are thus paying back the debt we have had towards our international commitments and our society. With this step, we are moving towards the 21st century. The detention facility is a facility with the highest level of supervision for criminals who have mental illness and are dangerous to themselves and society, Minister of Justice William Karas explained. The prognosis of the disease is therefore crucial. This type of facility will be transferred to criminals who are not expected to be fully cured.
The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic in connection with the establishment of the detention institution has implemented and/or implemented all necessary activities necessary for the establishment of this facility. There was a need for the commissioning of premises, including the authorisation of the provision of healthcare in the institution and the provision of staff to the institution. In the sense of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the second detection facility will be built at the Psychiatric Hospital in Kremnica. For the time being, two detachments should cover the needs of such patients.
