The Ministry of Health will announce three investments in the coming days for better mental health care. From the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic through the Trinity of New Challenges, he will spend a total of 18.5 million Euro on the modernisation of diagnostic equipment, the expansion of the network of psychiatric staff and the humanization of departments in institutional psychiatric care. The three challenges mentioned above are one of the answers to the delays in mental health care in Slovakia. Together, the challenges are a compact whole. They combine increasing the availability of assistance, improving the quality of diagnostics and the very environment in which patients are treated. said Vladimir Lengvarsky, Minister of Health.
According to his words, Slovakia has significant reserves in mental health care. Available statistics show that at least four percent of the population suffer from one or more mental illnesses. Many long-term sick patients are often placed in social services facilities.
As many as 27 percent of social service clients use antipsychotics, many of them live long-term in large-scale obsolete facilities without adequate health care,Vladimir Lengvarsky continues. At the same time, improving assistance to people suffering from mental illness is becoming increasingly medically ill, affecting crime, poverty or education. The highest amount, almost EUR 11 million, goes to humanization departments in institutional psychiatric care. The aim is to ensure the reconstruction of existing facilities, improve the therapeutic environment for patients and definitively exclude the use of so-called network or cage beds. It is precisely these that, according to the resort, must be replaced in more humane and dignified ways. The challenge also takes into account the geographical aspect. For western, central and eastern Slovakia it is determined by 3.5 million euros.
Within the second call, 6.5 million euros are ready to expand the network of staff with psycho-social rehabilitation for children and adults. Stationaries can effectively prevent hospitalisations and help people return to society after hospitalization. The third investment of EUR 1.3 million will serve to modernise the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders through better material and technical equipment.
All detailed information, deadlines for lodging applications and maximum amounts of support per application will be published soon on the https://www.health.gov.sk/?Plan-restructuring-and-resistance.
The Ministry of Health is engaged in improving mental health care not only through investment in equipment or material equipment. In August, it launched calls for further training of professionals both within and outside the health sector. The government has passed legislation defining the extent of care in detention facilities, while the resort is working to build an additional facility for patients with mental illness who are potentially dangerous to the surroundings.