On July 5, 2024, Public Defender Levan Ioseliani visited the Center for Mental Health and Prevention of Addiction LLC and learned about the rights situation of persons with mental health problems.

The Public Defender inspected the physical environment of the institution's inpatient psychiatric departments, wards, dining areas, bathrooms, met and talked with patients, administration and staff.

The visit made it clear that the special problem in the institution is therapeutic, infrastructural and sanitary-hygienic conditions, which do not comply with national or international standards and make it impossible to treat patients so that their dignity is respected. Extremely overcrowded wards fail to provide personal space, they need repair, bathrooms are faulty and insufficient (2-3 bathrooms for up to 60 people). Patients are not provided with all the hygiene products they need. The dining space is small, which does not allow patients to eat together.

The facility has a space for psycho-social rehabilitation, which is equipped with computers and appropriate resources for various rehabilitation activities, however, both the space and the resources are insufficient and cannot ensure the inclusion of all patients with appropriate needs in the rehabilitation activities.

The problem of patient safety was also acutely highlighted (a few days ago, one patient jumped out of the window. Fortunately, the incident did not have fatal consequences). The lack of human and financial resources, which needs to be solved urgently, was also identified as a problem.

The Public Defender calls on the responsible state agencies to strengthen measures to eliminate systemic problems in the field of mental health, which have not been resolved for years, and to ensure appropriate human rights standards.