Bulgaria closes homes for people with mental disorders under external pressure

Over the next six years, Bulgaria will close the 28 specialized institutions for the accommodation of people with mental disorders and mental retardation. This was surprisingly announced on Friday by the prosecution. The information came just two days after a poignant report by the Council of Europe’s Committee Against Torture, which exposed medieval practices for treating people with mental health problems in the country, including fighting and chaining.

The Council of Europe report was prepared after a visit to the country by foreign experts in August. It turns out that even then they contacted the prosecutor’s office for “irregularities” in homes for people with mental disorders in the villages of Govezhda, Kudelin and Samuil.

However, the irregularities in question sound like crimes. The report discusses staff violence against patients, violence between patients, the forced confinement of people in isolation rooms, poor hygiene and the smell of urine in homes, the use of over-the-counter medications, and more.

The Bulgarian authorities carried out an inspection of the houses almost two months after the signs, in the period from October 26 to November 20. As a result of the findings during the inspections, the Ministry of Social Affairs has stated that it will prepare plans to close the houses in the villages of Kudelin and Govezhda. After 2022, plans will be prepared for the closure of all specialized institutions for people with mental disorders and mental retardation, financed from the state budget.

The Council of Europe report is based on visits by experts to the state psychiatric hospitals “St. Ivan Rilski” in Kurilo, in the village of Tsarev Brod and to the hospital in Byala. The document gives the impression of the barbaric attitude shown in Bulgaria towards extremely vulnerable people, who instead of receiving care, are tortured by untrained and poorly paid personnel.

In all hospitals and social care homes visited, the delegation faced complaints of mistreatment of patients by nurses. The general claim is that there are paramedics who are rude to patients, shoving, kicking and hitting them with sticks.

Council of Europe experts state what Bulgarian specialists have been talking about for years. The state has infected psychiatric care. Extremely insufficient staff were found in the three state hospitals visited. The medical staff is also completely insufficient to meet the treatment and rehabilitation needs of patients. The general conclusion is that the Ministry of Health does not sufficiently evaluate people’s mental health care. The lack of specialists is explained by the low salaries and the remote location of the houses.

In the Tsarev village psychiatric hospital, the Brod delegation of the Council of Europe discovered how almost all high-risk patients were tied to their beds with metal wrist and ankle chains, secured with padlocks. So they are often left for days. At the same time, the hospital had padded seat belts that met modern standards. Residents of Kudelin’s home also said they were in chains.

In conclusion, the Council of Europe Committee urged the Bulgarian authorities to accelerate the closure of all obsolete social institutions as a concept and to eradicate their need as soon as possible. Apparently, for Bulgaria six full years is accepted as an urgent action period.