Ombudsman’s office on poor conditions in Tbilisi Mental Health Centre

“Beneficiaries are often involved in conflicts and violence. There is no proper management of similar cases, no measures are taken to prevent violence”, reads the report. Photo: ombudsman.ge.

Agenda.ge, 18 Feb 2020 - 14:54, Tbilisi,Georgia

Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has released a report on the rights of Tbilisi Mental Health Centre patients, which reads that poor sanitary-hygienic conditions, old infrastructure, violence between patients and overcrowding are identified as the main problems of the centre.

 Patients are not provided with proper living conditions, there is no hot water in the bathrooms, so patients have to take care of their personal hygiene without hot water. Insufficient funding for the inpatient service impedes on the quality of proper care for patients or their psychosocial rehabilitation”, reads the report.

The report reads that patients have no cupboards for personal belongings, there are no chairs or soft furniture in the Centre. Photo: ombudsman.ge.

The Ombudswoman also mentioned that there is no proper management of conflicts and violence between patients:

Patients are often involved in conflicts and violence. There is no proper management of such cases, no measures are taken to prevent violence”, reads the report.

It has been revealed that not only patients, but also employees have no proper working conditions as the facility doesn’t have enough staff.

Nino Lomjaria calls on the state agencies to increase the number of community-based and psychosocial rehabilitation services. Photo: ombudsman.ge.

Bidzina Mgaloblishvili, the Head of the Tbilisi Mental Health Centre, told Rustavi 2 TV that the centre was opened in 1982 and the infrastructure has not been upgraded since then, and that funding is just barely enough to treat patients.

Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia has confirmed that there is poor sanitary-hygienic conditions in the centre and the Ministry is going to resolve the problems in the nearest future.