Following the murder of a 13-year-old child, the Public Defender of Georgia would like to once again emphasize the systemic problems in the mental health sector, as the case was allegedly related to these very problems.

The Public Defender's Office contacted the Center for Mental Health and Prevention of Addiction, as well as representatives of state agencies, immediately after the spread of reports on the murder; in addition, a visit was made to the facility to obtain additional information.

The primary results of the inquiry show that the facility was overcrowded. In particular, the facility’s section intended for men was full of patients when the accused person referred to the psychiatric department. However, in a conversation with the Public Defender's authorized representative, the facility’s administration indicated that the abovementioned would not be an obstacle to counseling the patient and referring him to another facility. In addition, there might be a problem of communication between the staff of the Center for Mental Health and Prevention of Addiction and the patient/persons accompanying him, as they were not provided with sufficient information about the services and procedures needed for the placement of a patient in the facility.

It should be noted that a serious challenge has been recently observed in Georgia in terms of diagnosing and treating the persons with the so-called dual diagnosis, as well as different regulations in psychiatry and narcology. Furthermore, despite the increased budget of the mental health state programme, it is still problematic for a patient to get mental health services outside hospital, such as community-based or outpatient services, which further complicates the mentioned persons’ health problems and increases the rate of placement of persons with mental health problems in hospital.

Since home-based services are not developed in the country, a high number of patients with chronic, social and non-serious medical needs spend years in hospital, causing overcrowding there. As a result, persons with serious problems are often left without psychiatric assistance. The monitoring of the quality of psychiatric assistance by the state is a serious problem as well.
The role of the Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia is important in the elimination of the abovementioned problems, including in terms of taking effective steps for facilitating the deinstitutionalization process and developing the community-based services.

The Public Defender's Office will continue to study the case and will assess the effectiveness of measures taken by the state. At the same time, the Office will establish whether the social service had information about the child's rights situation, since according to the reports, the child lived with relatives without parents.

The Public Defender urges everyone to evaluate the case with caution in order to prevent the strengthening of the stigma against the persons with mental health problems.